Boeing Co. to Cut 150 Corporate Jobs, Will Outsource to India

A Boeing 787–10 Dreamliner taxis past the Final Assembly Building at Boeing South Carolina in North Charleston, S.C., on March 31, 2017. Randall Hill/Reuters

Boeing Co. announced on Sept. 20 that it plans to cut about 150 corporate positions in the United States and outsource them to India.

The airplane manufacturer told corporate staff at a virtual meeting that it would begin outsourcing finance and information technology jobs to Tata Consultancy Services of India, Fox Business reported.

The company said it intends to simplify its corporate structure and “drive stability in production and invest in engineering and innovation.”

The first layoff notices will go out in October and there are more to come in the next two years, The Seattle Times reported.

The Chicago-based company’s latest regulatory filing in January showed that it employs about 142,000 workers worldwide, with 12 percent located overseas.

The total number of workers also includes approximately 47,000 union members.

The manufacturer increased its workforce by about 10,000 employees in 2022 to improve the engineering and manufacturing departments and boost production in response to increased demand for aircraft.

“For the last several years, we’ve been simplifying our corporate structure to reduce complexity and focus more resources in engineering, manufacturing and product development,” a Boeing spokesperson told FOX Business.

The spokesperson also said the company will begin sharing “select work” with Tata and “assess future impacts as the process continues in the coming years.”

Downsizing and Offshoring to India

Brian West, Boeing’s chief financial officer since August 2021, has ramped up the focus on cutting financial, accounting, and IT jobs.

He appointed Amy Rodrigues in November to lead the finance and accounting team, whose main responsibility is to downsize and offshore more of the company payroll, The Seattle Times reported, and Tata managers have begun directly consulting with Boeing management.

Boeing plans to notify the individuals who are being laid off and will ask them to train their replacements from Tata before their termination.

“Several of our corporate functions, including Information Technology and Finance, have implemented changes to streamline their operations, resulting in lower staffing levels” in those areas, a Boeing employee told The Seattle Times.

The first positions to be targeted are in IT work, which Boeing has been gradually reducing since 2013, primarily in its Puget Sound location.

The layoffs are unrelated to the company’s plans to move its corporate headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, Virginia, a Boeing spokesperson told Fox Business.

Recovery From Disaster

Boeing has been recently dealing with engineering and production problems after 737 Max was grounded for nearly two years by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following two fatal crashes.

The plane was only cleared to fly again in November 2020.

Production problems and regulatory issues kept Boeing from delivering its 787 Dreamliner to airlines for more than a year.

Boeing finally delivered its first 787 Dreamliner to American Airlines in August following approval from the FAA. The company was forced to halt deliveries of the Dreamliner in May 2021 after the FAA raised concerns about its inspection method. The FAA said in September 2020 that it was investigating manufacturing flaws in some of Boeing’s jetliners.

Boeing executives told The Wall Street Journal they expect the company to have a turnaround and that it’s on track to generate positive earnings this year.

The company reported in July that its second quarter profits fell to $160 million, or 32 cents per share, but it still generated positive operating cash flow during the period.

Shares of Boeing have been down about 29 percent since the start of the year.