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Bombardier -- the end of an era!

 Well, it's a done deal Bombardier that has been part of my life -- first as a manufacturer of snowmobiles then as a train maker (famously for building the first rollingstock for NYC subway in nearly 30 years) in the late 1980s.

It then acquired Learjet, Short Brothers, Canadair, and DeHavilland (Toronto).   I worked for the company for a few years.  I had just been hired from working in London and I remember as I integrated my new office a guy came into my office and asked me "what position I played"  I had no idea what he was talking about (e.g. Hockey). I asked him if Bombardier had a league (jokingly) and he replied no we have leagues (plural).

It was a big company with an ever-increasing share price!

Bombardier had two problems; it was more or less time to change the firm's leadership (its CEO was looking to hand off the responsibility of day to day activities), and the truth was that the commercial aircraft division had a very hard time making money -- turns out so did the mass transit division.

The late 1990 saw a number of changes that resulted in today's announcement:

Bombardier is shutting down Learjet production and keeping only the Global Express (both models).  The future is that of a business aircraft manufacturer only in the "large end of the segment".   From having 90,000 employees on 4 continents to having a workforce of less than 13,000.


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