Belfast Learjet line a benchmark for Bombardier facilities around the world

ANALYSIS:Despite being on top of their game, Belfast workers now face an uneasy future

THE LEARJET assembly line in Bombardier’s multi-million pound Belfast plant recently won one of the Canadian aerospace group’s highest accolades.

Against fierce competition from leading Bombardier plants across the globe, Belfast won the “Annual Accomplishment Award”.

The team on the Learjet assembly line had transformed its manufacturing processes – no mean feat for Bombardier’s cutting-edge facility in Belfast.

Their achievements were heralded by its parent company as a benchmark for other Bombardier facilities to aspire to.

Fast forward just a few months later and this award-winning assembly line is now just one of a number facing savage job cuts in the North. Bombardier Aerospace wants to cut 10 per cent of its workforce or 3,000 employees by the end of this year.

Despite the fact Bombardier’s Belfast and other Northern Ireland operations are at the top of their game and an integral part of the aerospace group’s production process, they are going to pay a heavy price when it comes to layoffs.

Last year the Belfast plant celebrated 100 years of aircraft innovation, it is a proud tradition but its employees now face an uneasy future.

Belfast has developed a global reputation for the design and manufacture of metal and composite aircraft structures and nacelles. It is this strength which also makes it most vulnerable in the current economic climate.

The Belfast facility designs and manufactures wings for many of Bombardier’s various aircraft including the Learjet, Challenger and Global aircraft. These are the types of aircraft that were once highly popular with high-flying executives across the US.

But now that corporate America has moved to ground their private jets, Bombardier’s business in this lucrative market has nosedived.

The Canadian group confirmed that it was “revising downward all of its business and regional jets production rates and implementing measures to meet the continuing challenges facing the aviation industry”.

According to Richard Pettibone, a senior aerospace analyst with the Connecticut-based research group Forecast International, the business and regional aircraft markets are now simply “in free fall”. “Bombardier had no choice but to align its operations with market realities and implement these workforce reductions across its operations in the Ireland, the US, and Canada.

“There simply aren’t enough new orders coming in and backlogs for all aircraft manufacturers have been softening as cancellations and deferrals are posted,” Mr Pettibone said. He says the outlook for the industry is far from positive in the short term, which creates a worrying scenario for Bombardier’s remaining workforce in the North.

“Overall, the downward trend is expected to continue for the next year or so. Once economies stabilise, orders for aircraft will likely pick up around 2011, with a gradual recovery in manufacturing occurring in 2012-2013.

“One silver lining for Bombardier is that its new CSeries family of 100-149-seat airliners is finally beginning to pick up firm orders. Further, demand has also remained stable for the company’s Q400 turboprop airliner,” Mr Pettibone added.

Despite the latest round of redundancies, Bombardier will remain one of the biggest private sector employers in the North and a key player in the local economy.

It not only directly contributes in the region of £160 million in salaries to the economy each year, but it is the lifeblood of many small local aerospace-related firms in the North.

The Canadian aerospace group has the largest supply chain in value terms of any manufacturing firm in Northern Ireland.

Bombardier spends millions of pounds with key suppliers such as Greyabbey-based John Huddleston and Castledawson-based Moyola Precision Engineering. It also provides significant sub-contracting work and other service-related business to a substantial number of companies in the North.

The impact of nearly 1,000 job losses in Bombardier alone is devastating, but the combined knock-on effect this will have on local suppliers and contractors is even worse.

Bryan Gray, the chief executive of Northern Ireland Manufacturing – the umbrella body for the manufacturing industry – said no one should be in any doubt of the impact 1,000 job losses in Bombardier will have in Northern Ireland.

“Following on from the news that 95 further jobs are to go at FG Wilson, together with major job losses at Visteon, the latest news from Bombardier is a complete disaster for Northern Ireland’s manufacturing base.

“Given the recent hikes in costs, combined with the downturn in many orders it is clear that the manufacturing sector here is Northern Ireland is under huge pressure.”