Boeing Co. (IW 500/9) is making deeper job cuts than anticipated in its commercial airplane business and planning further workforce reductions for 2017, executives said in an e-mail to employees on December 19.
The planemaker will trim the workforce in its largest division by 8% by the end of this year, Ray Conner, Boeing vice chairman, and Kevin McAllister, CEO of the unit, said in a memo.
In March the company said it would cut about 4,000 jobs, or about 4.8% of the division’s workforce.
Earlier this month the planemaker announced that production of the 777 jetliner, one of its biggest money-makers, would slow to five aircraft a month starting in August 2017 and some jobs would be eliminated.
The Chicago-based company now makes an average of 8.3 of the wide-body plane each month.
Reductions to the workforce will come through a combination of leaving open positions unfilled, attrition and a voluntary layoff program early next year, according to the memo. There is no specific target for the number of 2017 job cuts, a company spokesman said.
Boeing rose less than 1% to $155.70 at 1:39 p.m. in New York.
By Julie Johnsson
