Bombardier is considering adding a jet to its line-up in order to compete with Gulfstream’s G650 model, Bombardier’s CEO Pierre Beaudoin told Bloomberg.
Gulfstream plans to deliver the $60 million G650 in 2012.
“Do we intend to leave space to the Gulfstream 650,” Beaudoin told Bloomberg. “Absolutely not.”
Machinists union members at Bombardier Learjet vote Saturday on whether to accept the company’s offer of a new three-year contract.
The current contract expires Monday. The union represents about 900 hourly employees at in Wichita.
Union negotiators are unanimously recommending acceptance.
The offer includes wage increases of 2 percent the first year and 3 percent in each of the next two years. It includes a $6 increase in pension benefits to $50 a month for each year worked. On health care premiums, the company continues to pay 85 percent of the cost in the first two years. That declines to 80 percent in the third year, although a new health care plan put into place retains the 85/15 percent split.
The offer also increases the number of weeks of severance pay if an employee is laid off because of subcontracting and it extends recall rights.
WICHITA – Labor negotiations between Bombardier Learjet and its Machinists union open on Monday.
The union represents about 900 hourly workers at the Learjet facility in Wichita. The current contract expires October 5.
In the last round of talks three years ago, workers struck for three weeks. It was the first work stoppage in the Learjet plant’s history.
Bombardier spokeswoman Danielle Boudreau declined to comment on the upcoming negotiations. Machinists union president Steve Rooney did not return calls for comment.
The news out of Bombardier isn’t good for the Wichita Learjet plant. The company lost an order for 25 Learjet 60XRs from Jet Republic, which ceased operations. The company also had an option for 85 more.
Bombardier isn’t saying how many remaining orders they have for the Learjet 60XR or how many of its 2,500 employees work on the program.
But of the three Learjet models produced, the 60 is the most labor intensive. The Wichita facility produces more of the content — the parts and subassemblies — of the mid-sized jet than it does the other two Learjet models.
Bombardier Aerospace announced an option for an extended-range Learjet 40XR business jet. The announcement was made at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland.
The extended-range option gives the Wichita-assembled plane a range of an extra 268 nautical miles, the company said. The six-to-seven passenger plane will now have a total non-stop range of 1,991 nautical miles. The extension will be obtained by a 687-pound increase to the fuel tank capacity.
The option will be available in the third quarter of 2o09.
“Bombardier is committed to developing new product lines and enhancing current product platforms, even young models like the Learjet 40XR,” said David Coleal, Learjet vice president and general manager.
Bombardier Aerospace plans to cut 10 percent of its work force, or about 3,000 workers, as aircraft demand falls, the company said today.
The reductions include 300 union and 170 nonunion and management positions in Wichita, where the company operates Bombardier Learjet producing Learjet aircraft. The company cut 350 Wichita workers in cuts announced last month.
The company is starting to inform workers in Wichita this morning, Bombardier spokeswoman Haley Dunne said.
Besides Wichita, the layoffs will occur at facilities in Canada, Mexico and Northern Ireland.
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