ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Eclipse Aviation has laid off about 10 percent of its workforce, most of them temporary workers.

 

The workers were needed to begin production of the company's Eclipse 500 very light jet airplane, but they are no longer needed, said Andrew Bloom, a spokesman for the Albuquerque-based aircraft manufacturer.

 

City officials said they have heard that Eclipse laid off 100 to 150 of the company's approximately 1,500 employees.

 

''They are contractors and that's what they do for a living,'' Mayor Martin Chavez said Friday. ''The job base in Albuquerque is really rich right now, so they'll be fine.''

 

Bruce Perlman, the city's chief administrative officer, said the city ''will do everything we can to keep them (the laid off workers) and place them in the community.''

 

Eclipse has received orders for 2,600 of its twin-engine airplanes, priced at about $1.5 million each.

 

Deliveries began last December, and the company has been ramping up production.