MONTREAL — Quebec-based aircraft-engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. said Wednesday it will lay off 1,000 people worldwide over the coming months.
The layoffs will affect those in the manufacturing division as well as employees who handle the company's administrative and customer-service operations.
It's not clear which countries will be most affected by the cuts, but 7,000 of the firm's 10,000 employees are based in Canada, the majority of them in Quebec.
The company is a unit of U.S.-based United Technologies Corp.
Pratt spokesman Pierre Boisseau said the cuts are necessary because the global economic downturn has had an adverse effect on demand for corporate jets.
The company's other divisions are less likely to be affected.
“Given the current context, it's the business aviation market that's the most impacted right now,” Mr. Boisseau said.
“The other segments that Pratt & Whitney Canada is involved in, such as the helicopter market, the regional aviation market and the general aviation market for the smaller aircraft, those are still going relatively well.”
For example, he said, just a few days ago Bombardier Inc. announced it would increase production levels of its regional Q-400 aircraft which are powered by Pratt & Whitney engines.
But in other areas, large aircraft manufacturers around the world have been reducing their production levels and laying off staff.
“We're kind of forced to adjust our global work force as well to maintain our investment levels,” Mr. Boisseau said, noting the company is maintaining investments in new engine programs, research and development and the new aerospace centre at the Mirabel airport announced a few months ago.
The centre will be used for the final assembly and testing of the new generation of PW800 family of engines.
Part of a five-year, $575.3-million investment in its facilities, the centre is to create some 565 jobs.
© Canadian Press