Bombardier to cut 1,000 employees in Mexico, Kansas due to soft Learjet sales

Bombardier says it's going to cut about 1,000 employees from its Learjet business in 2015, affecting sites in Mexico and the United States.

The Montreal-based company said Thursday the cuts are due to weak demand for the Learjet 85 business jet.

Bombardier will also write down the value of its Learjet 85 program, resulting in a pretax charge of about US$1.4 billion.

The world's third-largest maker of commercial aircraft will also record US$25 million for severance in its first quarter of 2015.

Bombardier says its operations in Wichita, Kansas, and Queretaro, Mexico, remain important to the company for both the Learjet and other types of aircraft that it makes.

The Wichita operation does final assembly for Learjet 70 and Learjet 75 aircraft and has a flight test and service center.