In a message to employees, Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg announced that the company is reducing the size of its overall workforce by 10 percent. That means Boeing is cutting about 17,000 jobs, including executives and managers, in the coming months. Ortberg, who only took over in August, explained that the company had to “make structural changes” to ensure it could “remain competitive” and serve its customers in the long term.
Ortberg announced the upcoming layoffs amid a machinist strike that has shut down production at many Boeing plants, including those that produce its best-selling plane, the 737 Max. About 33,000 union marchers are involved in the strike, which has been ongoing since mid-September. As AP he explains, that has had a big impact on Boeing’s pockets, as it is paid for part of the cost of the plane after it delivers the customer’s order.
In addition to layoffs, Ortberg announced that Boeing will delay development of its 777X aircraft due to development challenges, as well as ongoing work stoppages. It now plans to deliver the new wide-body aircraft in 2026 instead of 2025.
Boeing has since 2024 had to ground some 737 Max 9 planes after an Alaska Airlines door plug exploded in flight. Although no injuries were reported, the Boeing plane had been operating since November last year. In July, the company had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the US government following two fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. Boeing also incurred millions lost due to Starliner’s delayed return from the International Space Station. The first flight of the company’s crew was supposed to last only a few days, but hardware problems prevented it from sticking to the original timeline. Finally, the Starliner returned to Earth months later, without the astronauts who first flew to the space station. The team will now return home in the SpaceX Dragon capsule in February next year.
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