Boeing to Cut 5% of Its Commercial Airplane Workforce as 737 Max Ramp-Up Stalls

Boeing plans to cut about 5% of its commercial airplane workforce through layoffs and attrition as the planemaker slows its push to build more jets.

Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, announced the reduction in a memo to employees Monday. The cuts will come through attrition and involuntary layoffs, with notifications beginning in December, CNBC reported.

“Adjusting our production schedules and reducing aircraft output puts us in an overstaffed position,” Pope wrote in the memo. “Unfortunately, that means we need to align our staffing levels to our revised business plan.”

The division had about 50,500 employees at the end of 2025, The Seattle Times reported. Boeing had just over 65,000 employees in Washington state as of December 2025, but it has not said how many jobs will go or where.

A 5% reduction would translate to roughly 2,500 positions if staffing levels have stayed similar, Axios reported, citing the Times.

IAM District 751, which represents Boeing machinists in the Puget Sound region, was notified shortly before the news reached its members. The union does not yet know how many workers will be affected, spokesperson Deirdre Kaniewski told Axios.

Production Targets Pushed Back

Boeing is targeting a rate of 52 planes a month for the 737 Max in the second half of 2027, CNBC reported. CEO Kelly Ortberg has said wing production has moved slower than expected.

Pope said Boeing needs to “reset the pace of our production rate ramps” to give its factories and suppliers time to stabilize, according to Reuters, which reviewed the memo.

Ortberg told analysts last month that Boeing would miss its 737 production and delivery targets this year. The company now expects to reach 47 jets a month in early 2027, rather than by summer 2026.

Ortberg also said Boeing does not expect to reach $10 billion in annual free cash flow until 2029, a year later than analysts had expected. Investors see that target as a key marker of the company’s financial recovery.

The 787 Dreamliner has struggled too. Boeing has had trouble lifting output from eight to 10 jets a month, and its 767 and 777 programs have also been disrupted.

The cuts are the first workforce reduction since Ortberg announced plans to eliminate 17,000 jobs in 2024, Anadolu Agency reported.

Those 2024 cuts came as Boeing reeled from a machinists’ strike and the fallout from a door plug that blew out of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 in flight.

Pope said the company has improved quality and delivery performance and won certification of the 737-7 and 737-10, but “we have not yet fully recovered,” KOMO News reported.

Affected employees will receive career transition services, layoff benefits and support through Boeing’s Employee Assistance Program, according to the memo. Boeing shares were down less than 1% in afternoon trading, according to Reuters.

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