Boeing sheds 4,500 jobs at Commercial Airplanes division

Chicago: Boeing Co. has said it will shed 4,500 jobs, or 6.6 per cent of its commercial aircraft divisions workforce, in an attempt to reduce costs with global recessionary rends already affecting orders for aircraft. The job cuts will also help offset expenses incurred from programme delays of new aircraft, such as the 787 Dreamliner.

Boeing  said the job cuts will focus on areas not directly associated with aircraft production. The company has a record backlog of 3,714 planes.

 "We are taking prudent actions to make sure Boeing remains well positioned in today's difficult economic environment," Scott Carson, the head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in the statement.

In a statement yesterday Boeing said last year's orders were down at 662 planes, from 1,413 a year earlier.

Chief executive officer Jim McNerney had already warned employees in November that the company would cut jobs not only to help reduce costs but also to prepare for possible order cancellations with a slump in global air travel.

With the layoffs the employment level at the commercial aircraft division is expected to return to about 63,500, about the same level as at the start of 2008.

Boeing, which is also the second-largest US defence contractor, employed 162,191 workers as of 31 December 2008. It has already announced about 800 job cuts at its defence unit in anticipation of a slowdown in military spending as a new administration stepping into office on 20 January 2009 focuses its energies on the country's economy.