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April 24, 2009
WICHITA - Cessna Aircraft is planning to hand out 60-day layoff notices Wednesday to perhaps as many as 2,800 people, sources said this week.
The company told employees March 31 to brace for a third round of layoffs, but did not disclose how many employees would be affected. Cessna officials said at the time that the layoff would be across the company and affect employees in all pay categories.
Cessna spokesman Doug Oliver said Thursday that the company does not comment on rumors.
"We'll let our employees know first," Oliver said.
Cessna is expected to release details of the layoffs on Wednesday when its parent company, Textron, releases first-quarter financial results.
Since November, Cessna has eliminated 4,600 positions, including 4,000 in Wichita. That's about 30 percent of its work force here.
Cessna employed 16,000 people, including about 12,000 in Wichita, in early November. Eliminating another 2,800 positions would decrease Cessna's work force by more than 40 percent since then.
Hawker Beechcraft has also warned of a third round of upcoming layoffs, but has not yet said how many people will be affected. Since November, it has shed about 2,800 jobs.
And Bombardier Learjet is cutting 820 jobs in Wichita.
Not including the pending announcements from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft, south-central Kansas' aviation manufacturing employment has fallen about 17 percent since November.
Twenty-one aviation companies have confirmed 7,000 layoffs, the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas said this week. In all, 73 companies in south-central Kansas have laid off or plan to lay off 11,886 workers.
Cessna's latest round of cuts became necessary as it reduces production rates in 2009 and 2010 because customers continue to defer and cancel their orders for aircraft.
"I've never seen any situation as dynamic as this," Cessna chairman, CEO and president Jack Pelton said in a memo to employees at the time.
Cessna also is planning a two-week companywide furlough from July 6 to July 17. And it's furloughing workers on its production lines for varying amounts of time, depending on the model.
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