Brazil’s Embraer plane maker will cut its work force by about 20 percent because the global financial crisis has sharply reduced demand for its mid-sized passenger jets and executive jets, the company said on Thursday.
Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA did not specify the precise number of posts that would be eliminated, but said the amount represents about 20 percent of its global work force of 21,362 people.
The company said its decision to cut costs and jobs was forced by a “the new reality of demand for commercial and executive aircraft,” a statement said.
R&D UNTOUCHED
Most of the job losses will hit Embraer’s production and administrative units, including a layer of management that the company did not describe in detail. But most engineering posts will be maintained to develop new products and technology, Embraer said.
The company is the world’s fourth-largest plane maker after US-based Boeing Co, Europe’s Airbus and Canada’s Bombardier Inc.
Most of its workers are employed in Brazil.
REVENUE GUIDANCE
Embraer also said it was revising downward its revenue guidance for this year to US$5.5 billion, corresponding to 242 deliveries of commercial and executive jets.
The Agencia Estado news service said Embraer’s previous delivery prediction for the year was 270 jets.
Embraer said it was particularly exposed to the economic problems because “over 90 percent of its revenues are generated abroad.”
“Therefore, the resiliency that the Brazilian domestic market has been demonstrating through the crisis does not significantly alter this adverse scenario,” it said.
While Brazil has been hit by the meltdown, its economy appears to be limping along with slow growth — in contrast to the recessions for Europe and the US.
WORLDWIDE OPERATIONS
Embraer’s main production facility and headquarters are in Brazil, but it also has operations and offices in China, France, Portugal, Singapore and the US.
An Embraer spokesman said the company would not immediately provide further details about the job cuts and the statement did not say whether jobs would be eliminated outside of Brazil. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
In the US, its main market, Embraer is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It has a maintenance center in Nashville, Tennessee, and executive jet service centers in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, Mesa, Arizona, and Fort Lauderdale.
The spokesman did not know how many people Embraer employs in the US.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
RSS