Boeing announces thousands more job cuts

Boeing is cutting its workforce by six per cent, or 10,000 jobs, due to problems that are facing the overall airline industry.

Previously, the aircraft manufacturer announced that it would cut 4,400 jobs, but it has now increased the number by an additional 5,500.

These new cuts will be made in the military and space divisions and in its support services.

Jim McNerney, Boeing’s chairman and chief executive, said to reporters at a press conference this week that the company was facing “one of the most difficult commercial and financial environments that most of us have ever seen”.

For 2008, the company reported full year net profits of $2.7 billion, which represented a 34 per cent decrease from the $4.1 billion profit reported in 2007.

Boeing noted that its numbers were affected by a loss in the fourth quarter of $56 million, when revenues were hit by a machinist strike.

It is estimated that the strike was responsible for a loss of $1.2 billion in fourth quarter earnings, and meant that 105 fewer aircraft were delivered in 2008.

One Russian carrier cancelled its order for 15 of the 787 Dreamliners, citing the uncertainty of the economy.

Boeing lowered its earnings forecast for 2009, and thus far has declined to make any forecast for 2010 due to the state of the global economy.

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