Hundreds of UK staff could be affected after Boeing announced it would cut a tenth of its global workforce.

On Friday (11 October), the aircraft manufacturer revealed it would slash 17,000 jobs in the coming months.

Chief executive Kelly Ortberg said in a statement: “Our business is in a difficult position, and it is hard to overstate the challenges we face together.

“Beyond navigating our current environment, restoring our company requires tough decisions and we will have to make structural changes to ensure we can stay competitive and deliver for our customers over the long term.”

It has delayed production schedules for a number of its vehicles, and said it needed to “reset our workforce levels to align with our financial reality”.

The launch of its 777X jet will be delayed until 2026, and production of 767 cargo planes will stop in 2027.

Boeing said the planned redundancies would hit executives, managers and employees, and that more details would emerge this week.

“As we move through this process, we will maintain our steadfast focus on safety, quality and delivering for our customers,” Ortberg added.

“We know these decisions will cause difficulty for you, your families and our team, and I sincerely wish we could avoid taking them. However, the state of our business and our future recovery require tough actions.”

Boeing employs around 4,000 people in the UK across its Sheffield production plant, defence helicopter contracts and Boeing Global Services, which handles aircraft maintenance and is based at Gatwick airport.

If the cuts are applied on a pro-rata basis, this would mean job losses for around 400 people, although Boeing is yet to confirm how the redundancies will be applied geographically.

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