Boeing to Cut 5% of Commercial Plane Workforce Amid Slower Production Ramp

BA said Monday it will cut about 5 percent of its commercial airplane workforce through a mix of attrition and involuntary layoffs, with notifications beginning in December. In a memo to employees, Stephanie Pope, who runs Boeing Commercial Airplanes, wrote that "adjusting our production schedules and reducing aircraft output puts us in an overstaffed position," and that Boeing needs to align staffing with its revised business plan. Boeing did not give a headcount; the commercial unit employed about 50,500 people at the end of 2025, so 5 percent works out to roughly 2,500 positions.

The cuts follow Boeing's third-quarter report on October 27, when CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company would miss this year's 737 and 787 delivery targets, including its plan for about 500 737 MAX deliveries, and pushed a planned production increase into 2027. Shares closed down 10.69% at $168.18 that day. Boeing is stabilizing output at about 47 737 MAX jets a month and now targets 52 a month in the second half of 2027, while guiding to roughly $3 billion of free cash flow in 2027 against a $5.5 billion consensus.

This is Boeing's first workforce reduction since Ortberg's plan to cut about 17,000 jobs, roughly 10 percent of staff, in 2024. "While we have made substantial progress, we have not yet fully recovered," Pope wrote. BA closed down 0.6% at $172.38 on Monday and is down 21% year to date.

What to watch: how much of the reduction comes from layoffs versus attrition once notices go out in December, whether the commercial unit holds its 47-a-month rate through year end, and whether the cuts move the 2027 cash flow outlook.