chargement...
Canadian aerospace and transportation company Bombardier announced on Thursday, May the 2nd, that it is selling its aerostructures unit in Morocco in an attempt to «consolidate its aerospace business into a single hub», Canada’s news agency the Canadian Press reports.
The decision was made public ahead of Bombardier’s annual general meeting, held on the same day. The Montreal-based company announced that in addition to its Morocco business it is also selling a unit in Northern Ireland as part of a broad restructuring plan.
Indeed, Bombardier said that after selling off its units in the Kingdom and in Northern Ireland it «will focus its aerostructures activities in Montreal, Mexico and its newly acquired Global 7500 business jet wing operations in Texas», Reuters reported.
The company would be restructuring its businesses, investing in private jets and trains, its Chief Executive Officer Alain Bellemare said.
Production at Bombardier's facility in Morocco won't be affected
Speaking to Yabiladi on Thursday, a source within the Ministry of Industry said that the Moroccan government was informed of Bombardier’s decision beforehand. «The decision wouldn’t affect production at the Nouaceur facility», which has already «received offers from other big companies that operate in the same field», the same source added.
The same source revealed that activities in the Nouaceur facility won’t cease and that the 400 employees, working at the unit, aren't affected by this turn of events.
However, the plan made public in Montreal has sparked tension in Bombardier’s Morocco facility, sources within the unit told Yabiladi on Thursday. The same sources indicated that Bombardier’s decision will cover only its manufacturing facility and not its engineering office, located in Casablanca.
For the record, Morocco’s Bombardier manufacturing hub, located in Nouaceur near Casablanca, has been operating since 2014. It is a low-cost aerospace manufacturing unit that produces aerostructures. In 2011 the Canadian company said that the Morocco facility was expected to employ 850 workers by 2020.
