Bombardier To Lay Off 1,000 as Learjet 85 Program Halted

Stephen Pope

Thursday, January 15, 2015 at 10:15 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Bombardier has halted the development of its Learjet 85 business jet program due to weak market demand.
This decision will result in approximately 1,000 layoffs across its Mexico and Kansas sites and lead to a $1.4 billion pretax charge in the fourth quarter.
The company will reallocate resources to its CSeries and Global 7000/8000 programs, which it believes have strong market potential, despite existing challenges with the CSeries.

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Canada’s Bombardier said today it is halting its Learjet 85 development program amid weak business jet demand and will lay off about 1,000 employees at its sites in Querétaro, Mexico, and Wichita, Kansas.

The Lear 85 is the first all-composite business jet from Bombardier, and was to become the new flagship of the Learjet division in Wichita. Much of the composite fabrication work for the airplane is carried out in Mexico, with final assembly planned to take place in Kansas.