Boeing Readies for Deep Cuts in IT Departments

When Boeing presented a plan last year to reduce its workforce by 10,000 jobs, it was a warning shot that stiff cuts would be coming. The first of those will soon be arriving, as Boeing announced on Feb. 18 that it sent 1,000 layoff notices to employees, a large number of which work in IT.

The aerospace giant sent 60-day layoff notices to the workers, who face being laid off on April 23. About 800 of those notices went to employees in Boeings engineering, operations and technology unit, which employs 18,000 people. According a Boeings spokesman, the majority of those layoffs will target its IT department.

Boeing has increasingly used outsourcing for much of its software development, using third parties in India.

Just last month, Boeing announced that its revenue for 2009 hit a record $68.3 billion, up from $60.9 billion in 2008.