Boeing to cut about 5% of commercial airplane workforce as 737 Max ramp slows

Cuts across commercial airplane staff

Boeing said on Monday, 9 November 2026, that it will cut about 5% of the employees who design and build its commercial airplanes, which works out to about 2,500 workers. The company said the reductions follow a slower increase in production than it had expected, leaving it unable to ramp up output as quickly as planned. The job losses will come through a mix of layoffs and attrition, and layoff notifications will begin in December. Boeing said the move gives its factories and supply chain partners additional time to reach stability.

Stephanie Pope, chief executive of Boeing's commercial airplanes unit, set out the decision in a note to employees on the same day. In it she described the company's position in direct terms.

“Adjusting our production schedules and reducing aircraft output puts us in an overstaffed position.”

Slower ramp on the 737 Max

Over the past two years Boeing raised the rate at which it builds the 737 Max, its most popular commercial plane. In recent months the company has said it is taking longer than planned to produce 47 of the jets consistently each month, and it has struggled to build wings fast enough. In late October the company said it would no longer meet its 2026 delivery target and pushed back the timeframe for lifting 737 Max output to 52 a month until the second half of 2027. Chief executive Kelly Ortberg cited the need for more predictability in wing production and in fuselage production at the company's Kansas operation.

Ortberg said in October:

“We're making progress, but we still have more work to do, and I'm expecting it'll take us into next year to get fully stable at this rate.”

Dreamliner production and certification delays

Production of the 787 Dreamliner is currently frozen at eight aircraft a month, rather than the ten that had been expected, according to Focus. Missing parts and delayed certification procedures are among the reasons given. The 787 is a separate model from the 737 Max, so the two lines face different bottlenecks.

Expected rate10

Current frozen rate8

Expected rate

10 aircraft per month

Current frozen rate

8 aircraft per month

Data from the article text

Certifications and the road ahead

Pope pointed to US certifications this year of the 737 Max 7 and 737 Max 10 as evidence of improved operations. "While we have made substantial progress, we have not yet fully recovered," she said, adding that she would treat employees with "dignity and respect" as the layoff process moves ahead. Raising 737 Max output has been central to investors' hopes for revenue and profit growth after a long period of financial losses tied to safety problems, including two deadly Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. The layoff notifications, starting in December, will be the next visible step.