The Boeing job cuts will reduce the commercial airplane workforce by about 5 per cent, the company said on Monday, as its production ramp-up runs more slowly than expected. Stephanie Pope, who runs the commercial aircraft unit, told staff in a memo that the division is overstaffed for its revised production plan. Notifications to affected staff will begin in December, and no layoffs are expected in November.
Pope wrote in the memo: “Adjusting our production schedules and reducing aircraft output puts us in an overstaffed position.” She added: “We need to align our staffing levels to our revised business plan, resulting in a reduction of approximately 5 per cent through a combination of attrition and involuntary layoffs, with notifications beginning in December.” CNBC first reported the memo.
The commercial division employed 50,494 people at the end of December 2025, according to Boeing’s own figures, which implies the Boeing job cuts will affect about 2,500 positions. The reduction will come through a mix of natural attrition and involuntary layoffs, and it is smaller than the cut of about 10 per cent of the total workforce, roughly 17,000 jobs, that Boeing announced in October 2024.
Boeing job cuts and the 737 Max ramp-up
The Boeing job cuts follow a slower production ramp for the 737 Max, the company’s best-selling jet. Chief executive Kelly Ortberg said late last month that a significant increase in 737 Max output is not expected until the second half of 2027, later than previously planned. Boeing has been working to stabilise production at 47 Max aircraft a month, and it is targeting 52 a month only in the second half of 2027.
Ortberg also said Boeing would miss its 737 production and jet delivery targets this year. The Boeing job cuts come less than two weeks after Boeing cut its commercial aircraft delivery outlook, a move that sent its shares down. Shares slipped about 1 per cent on Monday after the workforce news, according to Stocktwits.
Factory and supply chain problems have held back the ramp-up, and the revised schedules left the division with more staff than its plan needs. Pope’s memo put it plainly: the division has to match its staffing to the aircraft it can actually build. The Boeing job cuts are the result of that calculation, and they will be spread over the coming months.
Boeing is targeting 52 aircraft a month for the single-aisle line in the second half of 2027, according to Le Private Banker. The company has been working to stabilise production at 47 Max aircraft a month, the rate Ortberg discussed on the third-quarter earnings call, and the higher rate is now more than a year away.
The cuts came less than two weeks after Boeing slashed its commercial aircraft delivery outlook, according to ZeroHedge, a move that sent shares tumbling. The workforce decision is the second step in the company’s response to the slower ramp, and it follows the revised production plan Ortberg set out late last month.
Pope is the chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and her memo to the division’s staff was the first word of the cuts. The Wall Street Journal reported her announcement on Monday, and CNBC carried the memo the same day.
Boeing job cuts and the order backlog
Boeing still has a large order book behind the cuts. The commercial division’s backlog stood at more than 6,300 airplanes at the end of the third quarter, valued at a record 612 billion dollars, according to Stocktwits. The backlog gives the company years of work, but only if its factories can build the jets at the planned rate.
In the third quarter of 2026, the commercial unit generated roughly 10.7 billion dollars in revenue but posted an operating loss of 697 million dollars, according to TradingView. The Boeing job cuts are part of the effort to get the division back to a footing where it can build jets steadily and profitably, rather than starting and stopping as supply problems bite.
Notifications to staff begin in December, and the cuts will run over the coming months. Boeing has not said which sites or roles will be affected, and the 2,500 figure is an estimate based on the division’s headcount at the end of 2025. The Boeing job cuts leave the company with a smaller commercial workforce and a production plan it says it can meet.