Quest Aircraft announces layoffs

SANDPOINT — Quest Aircraft Co. announced Friday that 26 full-time employees have been laid off from the local plane manufacturer.

It is the fourth round of layoffs for the company in 2010.

Quest now has 120 employees — down from 345 in 2008.

Quest CEO Paul Schaller met with employees this week. Several of the people laid off were with Quest since it started manufacturing the Kodiak airplane in 2005, Schaller said.

“We just have to keep our heads down, work hard and smart and continue to make tough business decisions in this bad economy,” Schaller said. “Our prayers are with each of our former employees and their families.”

Quest will sell 15 of the $1 million Kodiaks in 2010 with 13 of them out the door and two under production. The company has orders for 18 in 2011 which equals one plane a month.

There have been 44 Kodiaks manufactured and many of them are scattered all around the globe and many are in remote regions.