Boeing issued another round of layoffs at sites in two states that are set to begin in April.
The company’s Huntsville, Alabama, site will cut 71 employees starting April 18, according to the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act post. The latest round adds to the 158 layoffs implemented at the Huntsville site last month.
The aircraft maker also disclosed approximately 69 job cuts in North Charleston, South Carolina, according to an email from the state’s Department of Employment and Workforce. However, an additional eight employees will be impacted, with layoffs set to begin April 5, according to the state’s WARN post.
This makes South Carolina the second Boeing site to undergo a third round of layoffs, adding to 287 job cuts there in January and February. The notice comes two months after Boeing announced plans to spend $1 billion to expand and upgrade two 787 Dreamliner campuses in North Charleston.
The Huntsville site focuses on U.S. space and defense programs, including the Artemis space launch system program. Boeing serves as the lead contractor for NASA’s moon rocket, according to the agency’s website.
Earlier this month, Boeing informed employees working on the space launch program of approximately 400 possible job cuts as the Trump administration may cut the moon rocket program, Bloomberg reported. Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and a senior advisor of President Donald Trump, criticized the program in a December 2024 post on X.
“[T]he Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient, as it is a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program,” Musk wrote. “Something entirely new is needed.”
Boeing and NASA are working to finalize contract revisions on the space launch program, a company spokesperson said in an email. The rocket maker will redeploy employees where possible, but it expects to proceed with fewer than 200 involuntary layoffs in accordance with the WARN Act law.
“While Boeing is committed to supporting NASA’s Artemis missions and delivering capabilities for the core stages and Exploration Upper Stage (EUS), workforce adjustments are still necessary to drive efficiency and cost effectiveness on the program as portions of Boeing’s SLS work matures from development to production,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Washington still leads Boeing layoff activity among states
The company has mitigated the majority of its previously announced 10% workforce reduction, or an estimated 17,000 employees worldwide, the spokesperson added. The troubled aircraft titan is cutting costs to retain cash after a bruising 2024, with a $11.8 billion net loss for the full year, due largely to a 53-day labor union workers’ strike last fall and costs associated with laying off thousands of workers.
“As announced in October 2024, we continue to adjust our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities,” Boeing said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring our employees have support during this challenging time.”
