BOEING: 20% Reduction In Workforce, Max Deliveries To Return

• Revenues drop 27% as ongoing costs of 737 Max programme bite

Boeing is set to cut a further 7,000 jobs to offset the mounting financial impact that the coronavirus pandemic is having on the global air travel industry.

The US manufacturer lost $3.5 billion in the first nine months of 2020 as revenues fell 27 percent down to $42.8 billion.

Boeing lost $466 million in the third quarter of 2020 compared to a profit of $1.2 billion a year earlier. Revenues fell nearly 30% from the same quarter last year down to $14.1 billion. Commercial aircraft sales fell 56% to $3.6 billion.

“The global pandemic continued to add pressure to our business this quarter, and we’re aligning to this new reality by closely managing our liquidity and transforming our enterprise to be sharper, more resilient and more sustainable for the long term,” said Boeing’s president, Dave Calhoun.

Calhoun said while presenting Boeing’s quarterly results that the company will aim to have around 130,000 employees by the end of 2020, which is a 20% reduction on the firm’s pre-pandemic workforce size.

Calhoun also said that Boeing is targeting the return of 737 Max deliveries by the end of the year. The firm has 450 Max jets in storage ready to be delivered. But it will still take until the end of 2021 until half of the planes are delivered, Calhoun said.

Boeing said it was making “steady progress” toward the return of the Max, “including rigorous certification and validation flights”.

Wole Shadare