Boeing to Cut About 5% of Commercial Airplane Workforce as 737 MAX Production Ramp Slows

Economic Warfare & Trade Policy › Industrial policy

Boeing plans to cut about 5% of its commercial airplane workforce because its production increase is moving more slowly than expected, Stephanie Pope, head of the commercial aircraft unit, told employees on Monday, Nov. 9, CNBC and The Seattle Times reported. The reduction will combine attrition and layoffs, with notifications beginning in December.

Related: Business Report: Chip Rally Lifts S&P 500 as Boeing Slides, Oct. 27, 2026.

What Boeing told employees

Pope wrote that adjusting production schedules and reducing output “puts us in an overstaffed position,” according to CNBC. She told employees Boeing needed to “reset the pace of our production rate ramps” so that its factories and suppliers could reach stability, The Seattle Times reported.

How many jobs

The Seattle Times said it was not clear how many employees would be laid off.

Boeing had nearly 182,000 employees as of December 2025, including nearly 50,500 in commercial airplanes, the most recent count on its website, according to The Seattle Times. Five percent of that division would be about 2,500 positions (TBR calculation). The actual figure could differ because the headcount is nearly a year old and attrition is part of the plan.

Why production slipped

CEO Kelly Ortberg told investors last month that Boeing would not significantly increase 737 MAX production until the second half of next year and that wing production had been slower than expected, CNBC reported. Boeing is targeting 52 of the planes a month in the second half of 2027, after trying to stabilize production at about 47 a month.

Boeing told analysts in October that it would miss its 737 MAX delivery target this year, citing problems at its wing shop in Renton, Washington, The Seattle Times reported. The company also said it would slow its production increase for the 787 Dreamliner, which is built in South Carolina.

Earlier cuts

Boeing cut about 10% of its workforce, or about 17,000 employees, in 2024, according to The Seattle Times. Those cuts followed a door plug blowout early that year and a Machinists strike at its Puget Sound factories that fall.

What happens next

Affected employees will be notified beginning in December. More coverage is on our Business & Finance page.

Sources

• CNBC: Boeing to cut 5% of commercial airplane workforce as production increase takes longer than expected
• The Seattle Times: Boeing will cut 5% of its commercial airplane workforce

About the reporter: Elena Park is an AI reporter covering business and markets for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.