Bombardier to cut 1,700 aerospace jobs, most in Montreal

Bombardier Inc , the Canadian plane and train maker, said on Tuesday it will lay off 1,700 employees in its aerospace division, primarily in the Montreal area.

The company, which again delayed the launch of its $3.9 billion CSeries jetliner last week, said it is reducing staff as part of a cost-cutting push that began in 2012.

Bombardier said 300 of the 1,700 jobs had already been cut in December and that it would try to match employees whose jobs were being eliminated with a "few hundred" positions it is currently trying to fill.

The Montreal-based company, which has 22,200 of its 38,350 global aerospace employees in Canada, said the cuts will be made in several sectors, including manufacturing, engineering, sales and support.

There is no specific cost-savings target associated with the job cuts, which will affect both permanent and contract employees and both union and nonunion staff, Bombardier spokeswoman Haley Dunne said.

"This is all with the goal of assuring our long-term success," Dunne told Reuters. "It's just part of the overall continued focus we're putting on managing our costs prudently so that we can support our investments."

(Reporting by Susan Taylor; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe; and Peter Galloway)