Published Thursday, 02 April 2009
The company announced 310 permanent employees and all its remaining 665 temporary subcontractors would be going - on top of 300 subcontractors whose jobs were axed in February.
Employees at the east Belfast firm were informed of the redundancies on Thursday morning.
The 975 aircraft jobs losses follow 87 cuts at telecoms company Nortel in Co Antrim on Monday, 210 at Ford subcontractor Visteon in west Belfast on Tuesday, and 95 at engineering company FG Wilson in Co Antrim on Wednesday.
'Bad week'
Employment minister Sir Reg Empey, whose east Belfast constituency will face the economic backlash of the Bombardier cuts, said: "Clearly it is the worst loss of jobs in a week in manufacturing in a long time.
"About 1,400 jobs that we know of are going - it is a huge slice of the manufacturing workforce, about 2%, - since Monday.
"By any standards it is a very bad week."
Michael Ryan, boss of the Belfast operations of Canadian headquartered Bombardier, said he could give no guarantees there would not be more jobs cuts.
"I would like to say that is the end of it, but I am not foolish enough or far sighted enough to tell what is going to happen," he said.
He added: "We are loath to let people go because we lose skills and it is often not easy to get them back and grow again."
'Deep regret'
Bombardier said a drop in aircraft production rates had forced a reduction in manpower which it deeply regretted.
Mr Ryan said: "Unfortunately, however, the force of this global recession is unprecedented, market conditions have worsened and Bombardier is revising downwards most of its aircraft production rates and implementing measures to meet challenges facing the whole aviation industry."
Bombardier produces new-generation fuel-efficient regional jets and businesses jets, and it is the latter which has been hardest hit.
'Global downturn'
First Minister and east Belfast MP Peter Robison said: "It's something that will cause very considerable concern and anxiety in a number of homes throughout the greater Belfast area.
"The province is not immune from the wider global downturn. The orders for aircraft are an international matter that we locally have very little, if any, role in achieving."
Mr Robinson said he had just returned from Brussels where he and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness were involved in negotiations linked to allowing aid support for Bombardier in relation to the major C Series contract the company recently secured.
Mr McGuinness echoed the First Minister's concerns over the economy and said he hoped positive news would soon emerge from the talks held in the US.
Enterprise minister Arlene Foster also expressed her disappointment at the latest job losses.
"We are in the midst of a global economic downturn which requires an international solution," she said.
"Nortel, Visteon, FG Wilson and Bombardier are all companies that trade globally at a time of significantly depressed market demand.
"It is therefore timely that the G20 summit is taking place in London this week. We all hope that it will deliver practical measures to improve the functioning of the financial markets and to pave the way for a global economic recovery."