Friday, March 22, 2013

Boeing plans lay-offs

Boeing Co. (BA) plans to dismiss about 800 commercial-jet workers this year as it completes post-assembly fixes for its newest models, the 787 Dreamliner and the 747-8 jumbo jet.

There will be an overall reduction of 2,000 to 2,300 jobs in the Seattle area, Boeing’s headquarters for the development and manufacturing of commercial jets, said Marc Birtel, a spokesman. Some cuts will be absorbed through attrition and other measures.

Companywide employment will be unchanged or slightly lower this year, even with Boeing hiring as many as 10,000 as it boosts production another 25 percent through 2014. Increases are planned on the 787 and 737 programs, part of a four-year effort to boost jet output more than 60 percent. Work is winding down on refurbishing the 787s and 747s that were built before the models entered service at the end of 2011.

“With the 787 and 747 development efforts completing and the disruption associated with that substantially decreasing, we require fewer resources,” Birtel said in a telephone interview.

He said the reductions aren’t related to the grounding of the 787 Dreamliner, which has been parked worldwide since Jan. 16 amid investigations into battery faults. The 787 assembly lines have continued producing five jets a month during the grounding, with plans to double that by the end of the year.

Boeing said last month it was eliminating contractors’ jobs at its new 787 plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, where it employs about 6,000 workers who were becoming more efficient with experience.

Boeing, based in Chicago, employs about 174,000 people worldwide, including more than 86,000 in the Seattle area.

(Susanna Ray - Bloomberg News) 

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