60 Workers Laid Off at Air Research Aviation : Garrett’s Long Beach Unit Begins Phase-Out

In a move to start phasing out its aircraft-interior modification business, a division of the Garrett Corp. has laid off 20% of its work force, or about 60 workers, company officials confirmed last week.

The status of another 240 workers at Air Research Aviation, a Long Beach division of Garrett General Aviation Services, remains uncertain, the officials said Friday.

“We don’t know how many more will be laid off,” said one Garrett General Aviation executive.

Notices of the layoffs were mailed to affected workers last week, and formal announcement of the move is scheduled for this morning.

The company plans to sell its 100,000-square-foot hangar and office complex in Long Beach in the next few months and transfer its aircraft modification work to its facility near Los Angeles International Airport, company sources said. The move will mean elimination of an undetermined number of jobs, they said.

Garrett is phasing out its aircraft interior completion and modification business because of increased competition from airframe manufacturers, who increasingly are completing the interiors of their own aircraft.

“The manufacturers are taking some of the market away, and they will increase their portion of the market,” said one Garrett executive. “So, with the reduced number of aircraft available for independent modification, it has become a very competitive and costly business.”

Air Research Aviation generates about 10% of Garrett General Aviation’s approximately $300 million in annual sales, according to company sources. Garrett General Aviation employs more than 2,000 worldwide, while parent Garrett Corp. has more than 22,000 workers, 10,000 of them in Southern California.

Garrett in turn is a subsidiary of Allied-Signal and operated under the Signal Cos. umbrella before Signal merged with Allied last fall. The merger had “nothing to do” with the layoffs, the company sources said.

Meanwhile, San Diego Superior Court Judge Jack Levitt is expected to rule Wednesday on a settlement agreement between dissident former Signal shareholders and the company over the payment of compensation to former Signal executives after the Allied merger.

Attorneys for the former Signal executives last week filed documents asking Levitt to approve the settlement, which will trim about $20 million from the $106 million paid to 160 employees.