Shorts cut back redundancies

Belfast plane maker Shorts is reducing the number of workers it is making redundant as a result of the global downturn in the airline industry following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, it announced today.

The company, a subsidiary of Canadian Bombardier Aerospace, announced last September that 2,000 jobs from among the 7,500 workforce would have to go, but now says it expected overall job losses to be ‘‘several hundred less’’ provided there was no further deterioration in the market.