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  March 15, 2019 | Local, Aerospace

  Mecaer America will be able to secure its place on the world stage

  The Government of Canada awards $1.2 million in financial assistance to the Laval-based company Mecaer America March 13, 2019 – Laval, Quebec – Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) Mecaer America, Inc. is a leader in manufacturing landing gears for helicopters, regional and business transport aircraft, and military training aircraft. To better meet the needs of its clients and to ensure its growth, the company will receive a repayable contribution of $1.2 million from Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions. Through that financial assistance, the company will be able to invest in new procedures leading to the creation of a unique, world-renowned centre of excellence for the design, manufacture and qualification of its integrated landing gear systems. Yves Robillard, Member of Parliament for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, announced that funding today. The Government of Canada's assistance will enable Mecaer America to meet the growing global demand for aircraft production, consolidate Greater Montréal's aerospace cluster and better position that cluster on the international stage. The creation of a centre of excellence and the technological transformation of the Laval plant will also generate benefits for Canadian suppliers, from whom Mecaer America makes tens of millions of dollars in purchases each year. Mecaer America is wholly owned by Mecaer Aviation Group (MAG), one of the premier international suppliers of aircraft solutions used in four business lines: actuating and flight control systems, landing gear systems, cabin comfort systems and aviation services. MAG is an Italian company with 600 employees in Italy, Canada and the United States. Mecaer America has been based in Laval since 2002 and specializes in the design, manufacture and qualification of integrated landing gear systems. The Laval subsidiary has 125 highly qualified employees, 20% of whom are devoted to research and development. Workers in the aerospace industry are highly qualified and contribute to the country's economic vitality through their well-paying jobs. This is why the Government of Canada makes strategic investments that enable companies in this sector to increase their knowledge and expertise. Quotes “In line with our commitment to foster growth for the Canadian economy, the Government of Canada's goal is to provide better support for businesses that are making investments to improve their productivity and ensure their growth and that of the Canadian economy.” Yves Robillard, Member of Parliament for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin “As Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, my goal is to help businesses grow and innovate so that they can increase their competitiveness and create good-quality jobs and wealth for Canadians. That is why we are providing our support to Mecaer America, whose success reflects on the region and on the Canadian economy as a whole.” The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister responsible for CED “The financial assistance from both levels of government is essential for our strategic development. It also shows the welcome extended to an Italian company that has made significant investments in Quebec. Thank you to CED for its support.” Chris O'Neill, President, Mecaer America Quick facts Today's announcement is made on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister responsible for the Innovation, Science and Economic Development portfolio, which is comprised of 17 federal departments and agencies, including CED and the other five regional development agencies. The funding was awarded under CED's Quebec Economic Development Program. To find out more about CED and its priorities, see the 2018–2019 Departmental Plan or visit www.dec-ced.gc.ca. The year 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of federal regional economic development in Quebec: half a century of concrete action targeting the growth of Quebec's regions and businesses. https://www.canada.ca/en/economic-development-quebec-regions/news/2019/03/mecaer-america-will-be-able-to-secure-its-place-on-the-world-stage.html

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  April 6, 2020 | Local, Aerospace

  CAE to implement temporary layoffs, will begin producing ventilators

  CAE announced that it has taken a series of flexible measures to protect its financial position in response to the COVID-19 crisis and mitigate the impact on its employees. The measures include temporarily suspending its common share dividend and share repurchase plan, as well as temporarily laying off 2,600 of its 10,500 employees and placing another 900 employees on a reduced work week. CAE also announced that, in an effort to help save lives, it is developing an easy-to-manufacture ventilator which will provide life support to patients in intensive care. “CAE continues to support its customers as the training services we provide are considered essential around the world. Our civil aviation operations are most affected by the unprecedented disruption of the global air transportation system. At the same time, our defence and security operations are less impacted because CAE provides mission critical services worldwide,” said Marc Parent, CAE's president and CEO. “We entered this crisis from a position of strength with a leading market position, a balanced business with recurring revenue streams, and a solid financial position. Taking decisive yet flexible action will help to protect our people and operations over the short-term and gives us the necessary agility to resume long-term growth when global air travel returns. Our employees have always been at the core of CAE's success, we regret the hardship these temporary measures will cause those affected, especially during these difficult times, and we are grateful to all our employees for their contribution and dedication.” To mitigate the number of temporary layoffs, CAE significantly reduced capital expenditures and R&D investments. The company also announced cost-containment measures, including salary freezes and salary reductions for staff not affected by reduced work weeks (50 per cent for the CEO and executive team, 30 per cent for vice-presidents, 20 per cent for directors and managers, and 10 per cent for group leaders and employees). CAE is working to access government emergency relief measures and wage subsidy programs in its main operating jurisdictions and will assess their impact on its mitigation plans. As details of government assistance programs around the world are finalized, CAE will do everything it can to recall as many employees as possible. Dividend and share repurchase plan (NCIB) suspended CAE's board of directors has approved the suspension of dividend payments to common shareholders until further notice and will review this position on a quarterly basis. Core to its capital allocation priorities, CAE remains committed to paying dividends over the long-term that are commensurate with the long-term growth of its business and will seek to resume dividend payments as soon as it is appropriate. CAE's board of directors has also approved the temporary suspension of all share repurchases under its normal course issuer bid program. CAE provides essential services critical to maintaining customers' operations In civil aviation, training is highly regulated, and for pilots to remain active and to continue to hold their certifications, they must train regularly — usually every six to nine months. While training activities related to new pilot training have decreased substantially, many airlines and business jet operators have continued to conduct recurrent training to maintain the certification of their existing pilots. Two-thirds of CAE's more than 50 civil training centres worldwide continue to be operational, however training utilization is lower than usual as a result of restrictions from border closures and lockdowns that have forced temporary closures and disruptions to operations. In defence and security, as underscored by governments worldwide, CAE's work is considered essential, and its employees are deployed worldwide to actively support training and readiness requirements. Over 90 per cent of CAE's operational sites are still delivering services to support defence forces who must always be prepared and ready in the interest of national security. Playing a role in saving lives in the fight against COVID-19 To help in the fight against COVID-19, CAE Healthcare engineers and scientists have designed in 11 days a simple, maintainable, easy-to-manufacture ventilator prototype to provide life support to patients in intensive care. CAE is currently sourcing components in order to begin production of this ventilator as soon as it is approved by Health Canada. “CAE has employees around the world, and we are all proud of the impact we can have by putting our expertise to work to create a ventilator that can help save lives in the fight against COVID-19,” said Parent. “Once this prototype is approved by public health authorities, we are looking at manufacturing thousands of units in our Montreal plant and in other sites over the next few months.” CAE is also providing complimentary training seminars on how to prepare healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19. The CAE team is launching simulation-based training solutions, both web and hardware based, to train personnel in the safe practice of ventilation and intubation, which is key to saving lives. This is even more critical right now when ventilation and intubation is being done by healthcare professionals who are not trained for these complex procedures. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/cae-to-implement-temporary-layoffs-amid-covid-19-pandemic

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  January 27, 2024 | Local, Aerospace

  Estimated life-cycle cost of military's Cyclone choppers rises to $15.9B | CBC News

  The Department of National Defence (DND) has revised its estimate of the lifetime cost of owning and operating the air force’s CH-148 Cyclones to $15.9 billion — slightly more than a billion dollars higher than its previous estimate.