Boeing announced 141 Florida employees will be cut beginning next month. Some of these company facilities are in Orlando, Titusville and the Kennedy Space Center.
Earlier this month, the aerospace titan announced its plan in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter. Employee termination is set to start Jan. 17, 2025, at about 18 state sites. The same letter said employees will not have bumping rights, preventing more senior employees from avoiding layoffs by taking a position held by a less-senior employee.
Twenty-six employees at the Kennedy Space Center will be affected, 20 in Titusville and four in Orlando. Employees in Jacksonville, Tampa and Miami were also some others outlined in the notice.
In a statement, Boeing said the layoffs are a part of adjusting the company to its performance.
“As previously announced, we are adjusting our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities,” Boeing issued in an email statement.
More than $1 billion was spent with Florida suppliers in 2023. But, the company has not had a profitable quarter in about six years. The state layoffs come after Boeing revealed a plan in October to cut 17,000 employees – or just about 10% of its workforce.
Boeing CEO and President Kelly Ortberg, who joined Boeing in August, also revealed a timeline setback for jet programs related to strikes from 33,000 union workers. He said the company needs to focus on commercial aircraft and defense.
Layoffs at the Kennedy Space Center could impact the Boeing Starliner, the company’s astronaut capsule built to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the space station, which has a processing facility at the space center.
Starliner flew its first crewed mission this year after lengthy and costly delays, but astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have still not returned from the planned weeklong trip due to vehicle hardware issues. It’s been about six months for the pair at the International Space Station.
Boeing saw about $2.4 billion in operational losses during the third fiscal quarter this year as part of Defense, Space and Security.
