Boeing Bouncing Thousands More Employees

RENTON, WA- Boeing Commercial Airplane Group late last week said it will cut the workforce at its Renton-based Commercial Airplanes division more than expected. The Chicago-based aerospace manufacturer said 4,000 to 5,000 more jobs would be lost than previously expected by the end of the year. Several hundred received notices on Friday.

As a result, by the end of the year Boeing will have cut it workforce by 40,000 since the start of 2002, and most of the jobs being eliminated are in the Puget Sound, where the company makes all but one of its commercial jets. The last time Boeing hit the brakes this hard was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when a billboard leaving Seattle was changed to read “Will the last person leaving Seattle — turn out the lights.”

Boeing says the problems began to show up after the 2001 terrorist attacks and then continued to worsen with the economy, the war and SARS. The situation has slowed demand for new jets and maintenance services, according to Boeing.