Air Canada to lay off over a thousand machinists

March 3, 2010 Canadian airline Air Canada has said that it will be laying off 1,010 machinists seconded to work at the Aveos Fleet Performance aircraft maintenance company.

The layoffs will take place in April and June, with 470 and 540 workers to be laid off in each month, respectively. They will affect some 445 workers in Montreal, 345 in Winnipeg, and 220 in Vancouver; 195 layoffs are to be permanent and the other 815 temporary.

The layoffs reflect reduced demand for maintenance of the Airbus A319 and A320 planes in Air Canada's fleet, according to the Canadian Press. Mitigation efforts by the company meant that there would be fewer workers permanently laid off, but at the cost of more temporary layoffs.

A spokesman for Aveos, Michael Kun, commented that some of the people temporarily laid off could return to work by July. "We will be recalling them within eight months, starting in July," Kun said, as quoted by the Canadian Press.