Bend’s Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Co. will cut the hours of roughly 400 of the aircraft manufacturer’s 650 employees, a company executive said late Thursday.

The cuts, effective Nov. 27, will slice about six to eight hours off workweeks for a variety of positions, including factory workers and some support staff, said Ronald Wright, vice president of the company.

”Some will not be having (the cuts), some will,” Wright said. ”We’ll just take off hours from where we need to reduce inventory.”

Columbia is the sixth-largest private employer in Central Oregon, according to Economic Development for Central Oregon.

The cutbacks are the result of an inventory glut that grew when a June hailstorm damaged some planes Columbia was ready to deliver to customers, Wright said. Columbia pulled 20 percent of its workers from their primary manufacturing positions to repair the planes.

During the repairs, production continued at a slower pace, but a sizable inventory of airplanes still built up, Wright said.

Now, Columbia is trying to balance new production with existing inventory, which is best done through cutting hours rather than layoffs, Wright said.

”We don’t like the idea of this happening during any holiday,” Wright said. ”But this was absolutely necessary,” otherwise many workers would be unemployed during the holidays, he added.

Columbia’s human resources department is working to offer unemployment benefits to employees who qualify after their hours are cut, Wright said. He did not know how many would accept the aid, but he expects most will.

Staff hours will be reduced only until the inventory is balanced, which could take several weeks, Wright said. He does not expect hour reductions to last past Jan. 1, 2007. Once inventory is balanced, hours will be restored for those employees affected, he added.

Employees working four 10-hour days per week will be cut to four eight-hour days – a 20 percent drop. Employees working three 12-hour days will work three 10-hour days – a 16.7 percent reduction.

Columbia, formerly known as The Lancair Co., produced its first plane in 2000.

The company encountered financial hardship in 2002, when a major investor pulled financial support and Columbia was forced to lay off 277 employees.

The last few years have been profitable for Columbia, however. The company reported record sales in 2005, and officials projected in the spring that sales this year would at least equal last year’s figures.