U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing plans to make additional workforce cuts to those announced last month in response to the drop in demand for aircraft caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which it estimates will last at least three years, Efe-DowJones said Tuesday.
In an internal memo late Monday, Boeing CEO David Calhoun said the plan is to “expand total workforce reductions beyond the initial 10% target” set in April and “allow more workers who want to leave the company voluntarily,” cited by CNBC.
In the first half of 2020, Boeing quadrupled its losses by adding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the 737 MAX crisis that had been dragging on since last year, which led its managers to moderate the pace of production and already raise that level of 10% cut on the 160,000-strong workforce to 19,000.
The firm did not specify how many workers will be affected by this new round of voluntary redundancies and is expected to provide more details on 24 August.
Boeing is trying to adapt to a “smaller market” and is embarking on a process of internal restructuring to deal with the coronavirus’ impact on the sector, which is heavily dependent on international mobility and tourism, as well as measures to preserve its liquidity.
“We believe the sector will recover, but currently we estimate that it will take about three years for travel to return to 2019 levels, and it will take the sector a few more years beyond that to return to long-term growth trends,” Calhoun said in reporting the results in July.
More than 6,000 workers have already left the company, mainly in its commercial aircraft business in Seattle and in divisions that provide services to airlines, such as component supply or maintenance.
By EFE
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