Bombardier to cut 1800 jobs in the wake of CSeries delays

Bombardier (TSX:BBD.B) late Wednesday said that Bombardier Aerospace president and chief operating officer, Guy Hachey, is retiring and that the company will cut 1800 jobs.

The news comes after extensive delays in the company’s narrow-body, twin-engine CSeries, which fell under Hachey’s charge. Last November, after a decade and more than $3.5-billion spent, the maiden voyage of its much anticipated narrow body, medium range CSeries jet left the runway at Montreal’s Mirabel airport -more than a year after it was originally scheduled to. The CSeries was grounded again, however, after engine incidents earlier this year. The company now expects it to launch later this year.

Bombardier says it will reorganize into four units; Bombardier Transportation, Bombardier Business Aircraft, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, and Bombardier Aerostructures and Engineering Services.

Before today’s cuts, Bombardier employed nearly 75,000 people worldwide, with its Aerospace segment employing 37.700.

“This marks another step in Bombardier’s evolution,” said CEO Pierre Beaudoin. “Combined with the implementation of OneBT, the recent Bombardier Transportation reorganization, the new Aerospace organizational structure will enable us to be more agile and flexible in addressing customer needs, while increasing our focus on growth areas. The creation of the Aerostructures and Engineering Services business segment will also help us market our expertise in this field to the aerospace industry, thus generating new revenues. We are setting the stage to take full advantage of our investments and the tremendous growth potential of our new products.”

Shares of Bombardier on the TSX closed today down .5% to $3.74, near five-year lows.