In the midst of a strike at Boeing, the struggling American aircraft manufacturer will reduce its global workforce by around 10% in the coming months, which should affect nearly 17,000 jobs. It is also considering a series of measures affecting its catalog of aircraft, in an attempt to overcome its financial difficulties.
In two separate messages, the aircraft manufacturer also announced on Friday a further postponement of deliveries of its new 777X wide-body aircraft and the cessation of production of the 767 freighter in 2027.
He also warned that his third quarter results would be weighed down by heavy costs due, in particular, to the strike of more than 33,000 workers since mid-September.
In electronic trading after the New York Stock Exchange closed, Boeing shares fell 1.87%. It ended the session up 3%.
Details on staff reductions
The reduction in personnel will affect all categories – management, management, employees – said Kelly Ortberg, boss of Boeing for two months, in a message addressed to the group’s 170,000 employees.
He added that details would be provided next week by line managers, indicating that the partial furlough measures in place since September 20 to preserve the group’s cash flow during the strike were suspended.
They also concerned all categories of personnel – except strikers – and affected several tens of thousands of people in rotation.
The strike by members of the IAM machinists’ union in the Seattle region (northwest) has, among other things, completely shut down the group’s two main factories: that of Renton which produces the 737, its best-selling aircraft , and that of Everett, which manufactures the 777, the 767 as well as several military programs.
Vain negotiations
Production of the 787 Dreamliner is the only one still in operation because the factory is located in South Carolina (east), and the employees are not unionized.
Several months of negotiations, including under the aegis of federal mediation since mid-September, did not allow the union and Boeing to agree on a new four-year social agreement.
“Our company is in a difficult position,” noted Kelly Ortberg in her message.
Resource concentration
According to him, “recovering the group requires difficult decisions and we must make structural changes to ensure that we remain competitive and serve our customers in the long term.”
Adding that Boeing had to “focus (its) resources” on its fundamentals, Kelly Ortberg indicated that the long-haul 777X twinjet program would once again suffer a delivery delay.
According to a press release published alongside his message, the first delivery of the 777-9 should take place in 2026 (instead of 2025) and that of the 777-8 in 2028. The first aircraft in this range were initially to be put into service in 2020.
ats/miro
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