Boeing will reduce its workforce by some 10,000 this year in response to the global economic crisis, CEO Jim McNerney said today.
'The global economy continues to weaken, and it's affecting air traffic and financing,' McNerney said after the aerospace giant released its quarterly results. 'We must prepare the company, including being more aggressive in terms of productivity,' he added.
He said the 10,000 cuts would be made 'through attrition, retirement and layoffs,' and included a figure announced earlier of 4,500 in the commercial aircraft division.
Earlier, Boeing reported a loss of $205m in the fourth quarter as the aerospace giant felt the impact of a machinists' strike and costs to redesign its 747 freighter aircraft.
The loss marked a sharp turnaround from a profit of $1.5 billion the same time a year earlier. Revenues in the quarter fell by 27% to $12.7 billion. For the full year of 2008, profits fell 34% to $2.7 billion and revenues fell 8% to $60.9 billion.
Boeing said its results were hit by the strike, the 747 charge, litigation costs and other charges.
'The progress we made in many areas of Boeing during 2008 was outweighed by the impact of the strike and our performance on some key development programmes,' Mr McNerney said.
Boeing's 27,000 machinists, representing 16% of the company's work force, walked off the job on September 6 in a dispute over new contracts, causing delays in production and deliveries. The 58-day strike ended on November 2 but cost the firm billions of dollars.
