Boeing announces upcoming job cuts and loss in third quarter

Oct. 11—MOSES LAKE—Boeing plans to reduce its workforce by about 10%, according to an announcement Friday from CEO Kelly Ortberg.

Ortberg did not give a timeline for the job cuts, saying only that they would be instituted “in the coming months.”

“Our business is in a difficult position and it is difficult to overstate the challenges we face together,” Ortberg wrote in the announcement. “In addition to navigating our current environment, restoring our company requires difficult decisions and we will have to make structural changes to ensure we can remain competitive and deliver results for our customers over the long term.”

It’s not yet clear how the cuts will affect the company’s operations in Moses Lake, which employs about 800 people, said Boeing spokeswoman Bobbie Egan.

The 10% (cut) will be across the board,” said Egan. “There is no group that is being targeted or exempted.”

A press release issued at the same time as Ortberg’s statement said the company expects to report a loss of $9.97 per share in the third quarter. The company projects a third-quarter operating cash flow loss of $1.3 billion.

Third-quarter revenue was projected at $17.8 billion. Cash and investments in marketable securities totaled $10.5 billion at the end of the quarter.

On the picket line outside Boeing’s Moses Lake facility, striking members of the machinists’ union said they were not especially concerned.

“They can’t touch us until we get back to work,” Ryan McTaggart said.

“Still, you would have to lower the seniority,” Krystal Keefe said. “Many of us have high seniority here.”

The company will also delay delivery of its 777 aircraft and halt production of its 767 cargo aircraft after current orders are filled, according to Ortberg’s letter. He cited problems with the project and that 777 test flights had been suspended. Delivery of the 777 has been delayed until at least 2026.

Ortberg said the 767 commercial freighter program will end in 2027.

Ortberg cited the strike by IAM District 751, the union that represents train drivers, as one of the reasons for the delay in production of the 777. Union members on the picket line in Moses Lake were not convinced.

“They can stop being such a whiner,” Keefe said.