ST. LOUIS—Boeing is laying off nearly 700 employees in the St. Louis area, according to a notice the aerospace company filed with the state.
In the letter, a Boeing exit manager wrote, “The Boeing Company has made the difficult decision to reduce its workforce.”
The layoffs involve 692 employees at three locations and will begin on Jan. 17, 2025:
- Berkeley:363
- Hazelwood:239
- St. Charles:68
- St. Louis:14
- Maryland Heights: 1
- Kingsdale: 1
- Kansas City: 1
The job roles range from engineers and mechanics to supply chain analysts and accountants.
Boeing announced in October that it planned to cut about 10% of its workforce in the coming months as it struggles to recover from financial and regulatory troubles as well as an eight-week strike by its machinists union.
Boeing has about 17,000 employees in the region. The cuts represent less than 10% of the local workforce.
Eventually, the Boeing job cuts will total 17,000 across the country.
St. Louis employees did take furloughs, but those stopped when the machinists reached a deal.
The strike strained Boeing’s finances. But CEO Kelly Ortberg said on an October call with analysts that it did not cause the layoffs, which he described as a result of overstaffing.
Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, has been in financial trouble since two crashes of its 737 Max jetliner killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019. The company's fortunes and reputation took a further hit when a panel blew off the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines plane in January.
Production rates slowed to a crawl, and the Federal Aviation Administration capped production of the 737 MAX at 38 planes per month, a threshold Boeing had yet to reach when the machinists' strike halted assembly lines.
