THE Belfast aerospace company, Shorts, has rejected suggestions that 300 jobs could be saved if a buyer is found for Fokker, the bankrupt Dutch aircraft manufacturer.
More than 700 jobs have been lost at Shorts over the past year following the collapse of Fokker, which was formerly one of the Belfast company's biggest customers. Shorts says another 300 jobs will disappear, whether or not a buyer is found for the Dutch company.
Shorts had been manufacturing wings for Fokker aircraft for around 30 years, which by 1994/95 accounted for almost 20 per cent of turnover.
Shorts made the wings on a risk sharing basis, which meant that if Fokker did not sell any aircraft, Shorts did not make any money.
The disappearance of the Fokker contract has led to a significant loss of skilled workers from the Belfast company. Sixty engineers have left the company to work for Boeing, which has been advertising in Belfast newspapers for aerospace engineers willing to emigrate to Seattle for "top pay".
A spokesman for Shorts said that most of the people who had left had been in junior engineering posts. "We'd obviously prefer it if they didn't go," he said, "but it is not a major problem."
