Boeing is cutting 10 percent of its workforce, and Airbus is hurting, too

(Image credit: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

published 30 April 2020

Boeing announced Wednesday that it lost $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2020, fueled by the grounding of its troubled 737 MAX airliners and the collapse of commercial aviation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is cutting 10 percent of its workforce, or more than 14,000 jobs. Most of the job cuts will be focused in Boeing's commercial aircraft division, especially factories outside Seattle and Charleston, South Carolina.

"These layoffs are permanent," aviation consultant Mike Boyd told The Washington Post. Even if commercial aviation picks up again in late 2020 or 2021, "Boeing has to shrink in size. The marketplace that they were selling to last year doesn't exist anymore and it won't exist for three years or more." Airlines and leasing companies have been canceling orders for aircraft, and while Boeing hopes to restart production on the 737 MAX this year, it is halving its production of 787 Dreamliner jets. Boeing has not yet said it if will apply for federal coronavirus recovery funds.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.