Calbourne-based IFPL has announced that 25 jobs have been put at risk of redundancy.
36% of the 69-strong workforce now face losing their jobs with a consultancy process underway.
Electronics company IFPL is a major supplier to the airline industry, which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Geoff Underwood, founder of IFPL, has today (Wednesday) said:
“This is the first time in 24 years that we have seen a downturn that has affected us in this way. The airline industry has almost ground to a halt, and this has wiped out our order book, so we are taking this action now, to try to save jobs for the future.”
“The furlough scheme has been really helpful, in keeping everyone on the books during this awful period, but we predict that the market will not fully recover until 2024, and the airlines are all in survival mode right now, so they are not buying anything” said Mr Underwood. “It is with great sadness that we will be losing so many good and loyal team members because of this pandemic”
“We have some great skills at IFPL, and our sales team is trying hard to find work that could help to fill the gap, such as sub-contract manufacturing services for example.
“We have some great product ideas that we are confident will be popular with the airlines, so we are keeping our R&D departments going to develop new products ready for when the market returns”
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Good luck to all those affected by redundancy.