Boeing's Retooled Plane Unit Aims to Dull Airbus Sales Edge
- U.S. jetmaker pares biggest division's workforce by 4.8%
- Company hunts for ways to reduce costs on 787 Dreamliner
epa01905515 (FILE) A file photograph showing the start of final assembly on 15 February 2008 on the second flight-test airplane for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. US aerospace giant Boeing reported 21 October 2009 it lost almost 1.6 billion dollars in the third quarter of 2009 amid heavy costs related to production problems, with the company drastically lowering its 2009 profit target. The figure - worse than industry analysts? expectations - compares with a profit of 695 million dollars in the same period last year. EPA/THE BOEING COMPANY / HO EDITORIAL USE ONLY *** Local Caption *** 00000401770963
Photographer: EPABoeing Co.’s plan to cut 4,000 jobs from its commercial-airplane division, the company’s largest, accelerates an effort to reap billions of dollars in savings to compete with Airbus Group SE while reducing costs on the 787 Dreamliner.
Pink slips aren’t flying, for now, as the U.S. planemaker pares the unit’s workforce by 4.8 percent and hunts for savings from its supply chain to its factory floors, Marc Birtel, a Boeing spokesman, said by e-mail. About 1,600 workers elected to leave the company under a voluntary program announced last month. Another 2,400 positions are either vacant or will be shed through attrition.