City’s aerospace industry feeling pandemic pinch

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This article was published 14/10/2020 (1436 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With as much as 90 per cent of the global commercial aviation fleet grounded because of the pandemic, parts of Manitoba’s aerospace industry have taken a hit — but much of it continues to hold firm.

The province’s aerospace industry is concentrated in three companies — Boeing, StandardAero and Magellan Aerospace — and it appears Boeing’s local operation has suffered the brunt of the decline in employment.

More than one-third of Boeing’s workforce is now on the sidelines, and the rest is about to go on workshare. StandardAero and Magellan are managing their way through a steep decline in demand from commercial aviation with a diversified portfolio that included defence, scientific and niche sectors. For instance, StandardAero’s Winnipeg shop is the company’s global helicopter maintenance, repair and overhaul centre of excellence.

In May, Boeing announced its Winnipeg workforce would be reduced by 400 people through voluntary and involuntary layoffs and attrition.

Jessica Kowal, a spokeswoman for Boeing Co. in Seattle, said that in September the workforce was reduced by an additional 150 people.

From its pre-COVID and long-standing total Winnipeg workforce of 1,600, that is a 34 per cent drop.

As well, the company has applied for federal government workshare assistance to prevent the elimination of another 100 people.

“Our Winnipeg operation, like all of our sites especially those that produce parts or are involved in final assembly of our commercial airplanes, have been affected by the downturn related to the pandemic,” Kowal said. “This continues to be a very challenging time for our employees and we are very mindful of that.”

The company has announced significant reductions in production rates for most of its commercial jets. Its Winnipeg shop is the largest composites parts production facility in the country and makes parts for all Boeing’s commercial jet lines including a significant amount of work for the 737 Max. That work was already disrupted before the pandemic because of technical issues with that plane.

Kyle Hultquist, a spokesman from StandardAero’s head office in Arizona, said it would not be wrong to say its Winnipeg workforce has declined, but said it is not dramatic. He would not disclose specific numbers of job cuts.

Hultquist said, “We decided we would not take the big-bang approach to this (the pandemic crisis) like some companies have had to do, like airlines and original equipment manufacturers. We are trying to surgically and methodically take actions when we have to to adjust our costs.”

He said that means things like eliminating discretionary spending and the release of subcontractors but there have also been some furloughs and some workforce reductions.

“We have tried to keep it (workforce reductions) as minimal as we could,” he said.

StandardAero, whose pre-COVID Winnipeg workforce was slightly higher than Boeing’s, runs a global operation with aircraft engine maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities located in several Canadian locations and many more around the world.

Its Winnipeg operation, the largest site in its global network, is where, among other things, it does maintenance repair and overhaul for the GE engines used on Boeing 737 jets, including WestJet’s sizable fleet. The pace on that work has obviously declined, but Hultquist would not say by how much.

Dan Pashniak, general manager of Magellan Aerospace’s Winnipeg operation that has about 600 employees, said it has been very fortunate since the pandemic started.

“Most of our portfolio is defence-related and it has put us in a really good position,” he said.

For instance, despite the fact that the Canadian government has yet to make a final decision on the selection of a fighter jet to replace the aging F-18 fleet, Magellan’s Winnipeg plant has been making parts for the Lockheed Martin F-35 for more than a decade now.

Pashniak said Magellan has been “minimally impacted” by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While there has been ongoing efforts over the years to increase the local supplier base to those three large aerospace industry employers in the city, this is one time where many of those potential suppliers may be glad it has been unsuccessful.

Wendell Wiebe, CEO of the Manitoba Aerospace Association, said despite the fact the aviation and airline business has been so badly affected, it has not impacted the industry as a whole in Winnipeg.

“The companies that are suppliers to the aerospace industry on the manufacturing side are typically quite diversified,” he said. “Aerospace is just one aspect of their business.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca