The American plane maker Boeing on Wednesday ,27 May announced that it will cut more than 13,000 employees as the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic continues and the grounding of its once best-selling 737 MAX that was involved in two crashes that killed 346 people.
Boeing announced that roughly 6,770 involuntary layoffs among US employees and a further 5,520 who took “voluntary severance packages”. The initial cuts were larger than expected union officials said in media reports. Boeing said the layoff notices delivered this week will be the largest part of plans announced last month to shed about 10 percent of its 160,000-strong global workforce this year as it cuts commercial plane production as airlines remain grounded around the world and have deferred or outright cancelled orders.
Shortly after disclosing the job cuts, Boeing on Wednesday night announced that it has resumed production of the grounded 737 Max jetliner. Two deadly crashes of Max jets pushed Boeing into a financial crisis months before the coronavirus squeezed global air travel to a trickle.