91Èȱ¬

Thompson Aero Seating has announced plans for up to 180 redundancies across its sites in Northern Ireland.

The engineering company is cutting jobs at three locations in Portadown and one in Banbridge.

This is the third time since the beginning of the pandemic the company, which makes business-class seats for commercial airlines, has announced plans to cut its workforce.

Unite the union has described the announcement as "grim news".

It previously announced in March last year that it was shedding 330 jobs because of the impact of coronavirus, and in June it said 500 jobs were at risk of redundancy.

In a statement on Tuesday, it said it was "with great regret" that the company had taken this essential step, which it added was "a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact it has had on the travel and airline industry and related market pressures".

"The company will continue to focus on winning new business as the market begins to slowly recover.

"As Thompson Aero Seating enters into a consultation period with those affected by this development, the company's immediate priority is to support its employees at this time."

It has been majority owned by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China since 2016.