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Boeing plans to lay off about 10% of its workers in the coming months,
about 17,000 people, as it continues to lose money and tries to deal
with a strike that is crippling production of the companyÆs best-
selling airline planes.

New CEO Kelly Ortberg told staff in a memo Friday that the job cuts
will include executives, managers and employees.

The company has about 170,000 employees worldwide, many of them working
in manufacturing facilities in the states of Washington and South
Carolina.

Boeing had already imposed rolling temporary furloughs, but Ortberg
said those will be suspended because of the impending layoffs.

The company will further delay the rollout of a new plane, the 777X, to
2026 instead of 2025. It will also stop building the cargo version of
its 767 jet in 2027 after finishing current orders.

Boeing has lost more than $25 billion since the start of 2019.

About 33,000 union machinists have been on strike since Sept. 14. Two
days of talks this week failed to produce a deal, and Boeing filed an unfair-labor-practices charge against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

As it announced layoffs, Boeing also gave a preliminary report on its third-quarter financial results ù and the news is not good for the
company.

Boeing said it burned through $1.3 billion in cash during the quarter
and lost $9.97 per share. Industry analysts had been expecting the
company to lose $1.61 per share in the quarter, according to a FactSet
survey, but analysts were likely unaware of some large write-downs that
Boeing announced Friday ù a $2.6 billion charge related to delays of
the 777X, $400 million for the 767, and $2 billion for defense and
space programs including new Air Force One jets, a space capsule for
NASA and a military refueling tanker.

The company based in Arlington, Virginia, said it had $10.5 billion in
cash and marketable securities on Sept. 30. Boeing is schedule to
release full third-quarter numbers on Oct. 23.

The strike has a direct bearing on cash burn because Boeing gets half
or more of the price of planes when it delivers them to airline
customers. The strike has shut down production of the 737 Max, Boeing's best-selling plane, and 777x and 767s. The company is still making 787s
at a nonunion plant in South Carolina.

ôOur business is in a difficult position, and it is hard to overstate
the challenges we face together,ö Ortberg told staff. He said the
situation ôrequires tough decisions and we will have to make structural
changes to ensure we can stay competitive and deliver for our customers
over the long term.ö

Ortberg took over at Boeing in August, becoming the troubled companyÆs
third CEO in less than five years. He is a longtime aerospace-industry executive but an outsider to Boeing.

The new CEO faces many challenges to turn the company around.

The Federal Aviation Administration increased scrutiny of the company
after a panel blew out of a Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in
January. Boeing has agreed to plead guilty and pay a fine for
conspiracy to commit fraud tied to the Max, but relatives of the 346
people who died in two Max crashes want tougher punishment.

And Boeing got attention for all the wrong reasons when NASA decided
that a Boeing spacecraft wasnÆt safe enough to carry two astronauts
home from the International Space Station.

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/11/nx-s1-5150759/boeing-layoffs-machinists-
strike

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