Aircraft

Boeing today announced plans to layoff approximately 4,500 employees in its commercial airplanes division in 2009, citing the global economic downtown.

"We are taking prudent actions to make sure Boeing remains well positioned in today's difficult economic environment," says Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Boeing says that many of the cuts will be focused around, "overhead functions and other areas not directly associated with airplane production".

According to an internal memorandum obtained by Flight International, Boeing expects to begin notifying its employees beginning on 20 February, with most of the cuts occurring in Washington state.

The announcement comes one day after Boeing announced its 2008 order tally, which saw its backlog grow its slowest in five years and three weeks after the company boosted its shareholder dividend 5% to $.42 per share on 15 December.

Workforce reductions will bring BCA employment to approximately 63,500, similar to the level it was at the start of 2009.