Boeing, the perennial No. 1 among OC’s largest aerospace companies, is trimming its staff in Huntington Beach and Seal Beach as part of a 10% reduction in the aerospace giant’s workforce.
Boeing said 179 people are being permanently let go at the Seal Beach facility with 57 in Surf City and another nine workers being laid off in various parts of OC.
The affected employees cover a wide range of specialties, including airport engineer, software engineer and aerodynamics engineer.
“Layoffs are expected to begin on Jan. 17, 2025 for most employees,” Boeing (NYSE: BA) executive Elizabeth French told California labor authorities last month.
Boeing said it is laying off about 566 employees at facilities in the state, with almost all of those affected in Southern California. Some 115 will lose their jobs in Long Beach and 144 in El Segundo.
As of August, the company had an estimated 5,280 employees in Orange County working with top executive Sergio Bustamante, vice president, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Customer Support and Seal Beach site leader.
The company has been trimming its OC employee numbers; two decades ago, it employed almost 12,000 here.
Financial Reality, Focused Priorities
“As we announced in early October, we are adjusting our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities. We are committed to ensuring our employees have support during this challenging time,” Boeing told the Business Journal in a statement on Dec. 13.
Boeing is the maker of the Boeing 707 and 747, which revolutionized travel in their respective eras, while a more recent addition is the Starliner spacecraft.
Boeing, starting with a workforce of about 171,000 people, is cutting its staff by 10%, part of a plan announced by its new chief executive in October to save money during a machinists’ strike that reduced the company’s airplane manufacturing.
Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg said at the time that staff reductions would include executives, managers and employees.
Ortberg took over in August during a turbulent time for the company, which is under scrutiny by government regulators and faces lawsuits over two Max 737 airplane crashes that killed 346 people.
Furthermore, its space program stranded two astronauts at the Space Station. They are scheduled to be rescued by rival SpaceX in February.
The layoffs were cited in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) sent in mid-November to the state’s Employment Development Department.
The machinists strike ended early last month, stemming a tide of financial losses for Boeing. The strike cost the company, by some estimates, about $100 million or more daily in lost revenue.
Severance Pay, Career Transition
Eligible employees will receive severance pay, career transition services and subsidized health care benefits up to 3 months after exiting the company.
While Boeing cuts back locally, other aerospace firms in Orange County have been growing. Costa Mesa-based Anduril Industries, which has a hefty role in aerospace, has built up to more than 3,500 companywide and growing.
Turion Space Corp. in Irvine was advertising for more than 45 positions as of earlier this month.
