Boeing to cut 5% of commercial jet workers as 737 Max ramp slows

Boeing will cut about 5% of its commercial airplanes workforce through layoffs and attrition because it is building jets more slowly than planned, the unit's chief, Stephanie Pope, told employees Monday.

The cuts show that Boeing's recovery is still limited by its factories. The company is working to stabilize production of the 737 Max, its best-selling jet, and Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg told investors last month that output would not rise significantly until the second half of next year because wing production has been slower than expected.

Pope said Boeing needed to reset the pace of its production increases to give its own factories and suppliers time to stabilize. Ortberg has said the company is trying to hold 737 Max output steady at about 47 planes a month, with a target of 52 a month in the second half of 2027. Boeing also said in October it would slow its production increase for the 787 Dreamliner, which is built in South Carolina.

Boeing had nearly 182,000 employees as of December 2025, including nearly 50,500 in its commercial airplanes division, The Seattle Times reported.

The company last made large cuts in 2024, after a door plug blew out of a 737 Max early that year and machinists in its Puget Sound factories went on strike that fall. Those reductions affected about 10% of the workforce, or about 17,000 employees.

“Adjusting our production schedules and reducing aircraft output puts us in an overstaffed position,” Pope wrote in the memo. Layoff notifications will begin in December, and Boeing has not said how many workers will lose their jobs.