Canadian aerospace company Bombardier is to shed up to 600 jobs at its Belfast, Northern Ireland site.
The job cuts are part of a wider plan by Bombardier to cut 2,500 jobs worldwide.
The site in Belfast, which sits next to Belfast City Airport, is one of the largest manufacturing facilities in Northern Ireland and currently employs around 3,500 people.
Bombardier said that the cuts will be around 400 permanent employees and 200 contractors.
A spokesperson for Bombardier said: “We deeply regret the impact this will have on our workforce and their families, but it is crucial that we resize our business in line with market realities in these unprecedented circumstances.”
The Belfast factory produces parts and components for Bombardier aircraft and also wings for the Airbus A220, formely the Bombardier C-Series.
Bombardier recently exited the commercial aircraft market all together this year after it sold if its final commercial aircraft line, the Dash 8, to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
The Belfast site was also recently hit by a fire in one of its main buildings.
The cuts are the latest in a series of planned job losses by Aerospace companies including Rolls-Royce who have been hit by the global downturn in the aviation industry as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
