Boeing to slash 800 jobs at Kansas facility

The Chicago-based company, which makes military aircraft, civilian jetliners and surveillance systems, said Wednesday the reduction of 800 positions at the Integrated Defense Systems facility will affect managers, and salaried and hourly workers.

The Wichita operation, a defense facility that provides limited support for Boeing's commercial aircraft business, currently employs about 3,000 people. Work at the facility includes modifying Boeing aircraft for international customers.

Among its programs are executive aircraft, refueling systems support for B-52s, and 767 international tankers.

"A lot of the current work on some of those programs is ending ... and there's not enough work behind it" to maintain the facility's work force at current levels, said Jarrod Bartlett, a Boeing spokesman.

An unspecified number of workers represented by unions will be laid off, he said, though a greater number of salaried employees will be affected. A Machinists union spokeswoman said leaders of that union had not been notified.

Boeing, the world's No. 2 commercial aircraft maker, employs more than 160,000 people in 70 countries. Its business is almost evenly split between its commercial and defense units.

Sixty-day layoff notices will be delivered Friday to about 76 employees. Their last day of work is scheduled for mid-January. The rest of the layoffs will continue throughout 2009, with most occurring in the first half of the year, Boeing said.

"We regret the need to reduce employment," Scott Strode, general manager of Boeing Wichita, said in a statement. "However, a combination of events are limiting our business options and forcing us to reduce our current employee total."

He said the company was also taking steps to restructure its business to lower rates and become more affordable for customers.