Boeing to lay off 300 in St. Louis

St. Louis Business Journal
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Boeing will lay off 300 workers in St. Louis starting in early 2014, a Boeing spokeswoman has confirmed. The layoffs are part of Boeing’s decision, announced Wednesday, to end production of its C-17 military cargo planes.

About 3,000 employees work on the C-17 program companywide. Layoffs will begin early next year and continue until the last C-17 assembly facility, in Long Beach, Calif., closes in 2015, according to a company statement.

The aircraft’s forward nose and cargo door are built at Boeing in St. Louis. The C-17 program supports additional jobs at 650 suppliers in 44 states, according to Boeing officials.

The company is completing production on 22 of the aircraft, but delivered the last C-17 for the U.S. Air Force last week, ending a 32-year program.

Last month, Boeing CFO Greg Smith said at an investor event that the company was working to sell the C-17 to overseas buyers and would decide its fate this year.

Calling the end of C-17 production “a very difficult but necessary decision,” Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said in a statement Wednesday that the budgets of Boeing’s foreign customers “cannot support additional purchases in the timing required to keep the production line open.”

“What’s more, here in the United States the sequestration situation has created significant planning difficulties for our customers and the entire aerospace industry,” Muilenburg said.

Boeing Defense, Space & Security, based in Hazelwood, is a $33 billion business of Chicago-based Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), with 15,110 full-time local employees.