EVERETT — Fewer Boeing Co. 777 jets will roll out of the company’s Everett factory next year, likely leading to more layoffs in Snohomish County.
Responding to a drop in air traffic, Boeing said Thursday that it will lower production rates for its 777 widebody jets by 28 percent beginning in June 2010. The company expects that will reduce employment levels beyond the 4,500 cuts it’s already announced in its commercial airplane division for this year. It declined to say how many jobs would be lost.
“These are extremely difficult economic times for our customers,” Scott Carson, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement. “It’s necessary to adjust our production plans to align supply with these tough market conditions.”
Passenger traffic declined 10.1 percent in February in comparison to the same month last year, and cargo volume plunged 22.1 percent, according to the International Air Transport Association. The group predicts a $4.7 billion industry loss this year.
Although Boeing customers haven’t canceled orders for its 777, 747 or 767 jets this year, some have asked to defer deliveries. The company said Thursday that it has abandoned plans to moderately increase production rates for the 747-8 and 767 jets. Production rates for the Renton-built 737 single-aisle jet remain unchanged.
Boeing’s development schedule for the 747-8 Freighter also remains unchanged, meaning the revamped jumbo jet’s first delivery is scheduled for the third quarter of 2010. However, Boeing will slow down subsequent deliveries.
The company’s employees in Everett also are working to get Boeing’s first 787 Dreamliners out the door. The new jet made of a carbon fiber composite material is scheduled to fly by the end of June. Its first delivery early next year is nearly two years late.
Boeing has received 32 cancellation requests for the 787 this year. It has received only 28 new orders for commercial aircraft through April 7, leaving the company in the red in terms of orders. Boeing’s rival, Airbus, also is suffering from the drop in air traffic, logging in only eight net orders through the end of March.
Through March 31, Boeing employment levels in Washington already had fallen by 1,259 positions from Dec. 31, 2008. That doesn’t include the nearly 1,400 workers who have received 60-day notices since late February.
Boeing layoffs are particularly hard on Snohomish County, pushing up the unemployment rate to 9.9 percent at the end of February. The company is the county’s largest employer. Snohomish County lost about 200 aerospace jobs in February.
The next round of Boeing pink slips is scheduled for April 17.
The production cuts and unfavorable pricing are expected to reduce Boeing’s first-quarter 2009 net earnings by approximately 38 cents per share. Boeing will update its 2009 estimates when it reports first-quarter results on April 22.
Boeing shares closed up 6 percent Thursday at $39.15 before the jet production cuts were announced. In after hours trading, Boeing’s stock dropped 3.5 percent to $37.75.
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