Photo: Maurice King / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
SEATTLE, Wash. – Boeing said Monday that it plans to cut about 5% of the workforce in its commercial airplanes division through a combination of attrition and involuntary layoffs, with notifications beginning in December, as its production ramp-up moves slower than planned. The cut applies to Boeing Commercial Airplanes, not the whole company. Boeing did not give a number of jobs in the memo cited.
“Adjusting our production schedules and reducing aircraft output puts us in an overstaffed position,” Stephanie Pope, head of the commercial airplanes unit, said in a memo to staff. “Unfortunately, that means we need to align our staffing levels to our revised business plan, resulting in a reduction of approximately 5% through a combination of attrition and involuntary layoffs, with notifications beginning in December.”
Pope said Boeing is still working to stabilize production rates of its best-selling 737 Max. CEO Kelly Ortberg told investors last month the company will not significantly increase Max production until the second half of next year, citing slower-than-expected wing production. Boeing is targeting a rate of 52 planes a month in the second half of 2027 and has been trying to stabilize at about 47 a month.
Why it matters: the cut shows that Boeing’s recovery in airplane output is taking longer than the company planned, which affects its workforce and its suppliers. Still unknown: how many jobs will go, which sites and roles will be affected, and when the reductions will be completed.
Archival photo: Boeing’s Everett, Wash., widebody assembly plant in 2008. It is not a picture of the layoffs.
JBizNews Desk | Seattle, Wash.
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