Boeing to cut 5% of commercial jet workforce as production ramp-up falters

Boeing will cut about 5% of the jobs in its commercial airplane workforce as it builds jets more slowly than it had anticipated, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stephanie Pope told employees on November 9, 2026.

The reduction would amount to about 2,500 jobs based on the 50,500 people the division employed at the end of 2025. Boeing expects some of those jobs to disappear through attrition.

Employees who will be laid off could receive notices as early as December, according to Pope’s memo.

“Adjusting our production schedules and reducing aircraft output puts us in an overstaffed position,” Pope wrote. She said Boeing’s factories and suppliers needed more time to stabilize production before moving to higher rates.

Boeing began raising 737 production from 42 to 47 airplanes a month in the second quarter of 2026 with the FAA’s blessing. The company had expected to reach 47 a month by summer 2026. On its October earnings call, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg pushed that target to early 2027 and said Boeing would miss its 737 delivery goal for 2026.

The 787 program is also running behind. The company had been working toward 10 Dreamliners a month, but production held at eight a month in the third quarter. Boeing delivered 22 Dreamliners and 124 737s in the three months through September 2026.

Orders, meanwhile, have continued to arrive faster than Boeing can fill them. The commercial division booked 300 net orders in the third quarter of 2026 and delivered 161 airplanes. At the end of September, it had more than 6,300 jets on order, a backlog Boeing valued at a record $612 billion.

The division reported a $697 million operating loss for the quarter on revenue of $10.7 billion.The post Boeing to cut 5% of commercial jet workforce as production ramp-up falters appeared first on AeroTime.

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