Boeing to cut 17,000 jobs and delay first 777X jet delivery as strike hits finances

Company exploring options to raise billions of dollars

Boeing factory workers and supporters gather on a picket line near a production plant in Renton, Washington. Reuters

US plane maker Boeing will cut 17,000 jobs, 10 per cent of its global workforce, delay the first delivery of its 777X jet by a year and expects substantial losses in its defence business as a month-long strike has damaged company finances, chief executive Kelly Ortberg said.

Mr Ortberg told employees the company must readdress workforce levels after a strike by about 30,000 US West Coast workers shut down production of its 737 MAX, 767 and 777 jets.

“We reset our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and to a more focused set of priorities,” Mr Ortberg said. "Over the coming months, we are planning to reduce the size of our total workforce by roughly 10 per cent. These reductions will include executives, managers and employees."

He said Boeing has notified customers that the company now expects first delivery of its 777X in 2026 due to challenges in development, as well as from the flight-test pause and continuing protest action by striking workers.

Even before the strike began on September 13, the company had been burning cash as it struggled to recover from a January mid-air panel blowout on a new plane that exposed weak safety protocols and spurred US regulators to curb its production. Reuters reported this week that Boeing is examining options to raise billions of dollars through a sale of stock and equity-like securities.