Responding to a decrease in business jet orders, Pratt & Whitney Canada has announced plans to lay off 1,000 employees in its business aviation division. The move comes amid thousands of job cuts among aircraft manufacturers and supporting companies. Spokesman Pierre Boisseau told ABC News that the layoffs are scheduled to begin in a few months and will impact around 10 percent of the company’s overall workforce. He added that most of the job cuts will be in the business jet segment and the general aviation, regional aircraft and helicopter markets will not be hit as hard. The losses are impacting several business jet makers, as last week Bombardier Aerospace announced plans to cut 1,360 jobs, with many of those in the Montreal area. The layoffs, due to lower demand for Learjet and Challenger aircraft, represent around 4.5 percent of Bombardier’s workforce. In addition, at the end of January Cessna gave notice to another 2,000 employees of impending cuts, bringing the total number of layoffs at the Wichita, Kan.-based manufacturer to about 4,600.
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