MONTREAL - Bell Helicopter is laying off an additional 200 employees at its Mirabel assembly plant north of Montreal because of ongoing challenges in the aerospace market.

The subsidiary of U.S. aerospace company Textron (NYSE:TXT) said the move flows from its earlier decision to cut production at the plant.

Spokeswoman Lucie Tessier said voluntary departure packages will be available until the end of February. Job cuts will apply to both administrative and plant workers.

Bell eliminated about 300 positions last spring as part of a global restructuring by Textron that affected nearly 1,100 jobs.

In June 2014, 150 positions in Mirabel were cut.

The latest round of layoffs will shrink the plant's workforce to 1,000, half the level of a few years ago.