Image Source: LA Times
Boeing said Friday that it plans to hire 10,000 people in 2023 as it recovers from the pandemic and increases the production of jetliners. However, some support jobs will be cut.
The Arlington, Virginia-based company hired about 14,000 more people in 2022 than in 2021. As of December 31, 2022, 156,000 people were working for the company, up from about 142,000 in 2021. About 136,000 people work for Boeing in the United States.
Boeing said it will “lower staffing in some support functions.” This is so it can better use its resources to support its current products and help develop new ones. However, it wouldn’t say how many jobs would be cut in 2023.
Most of the growth will happen in Boeing’s business units, engineering, and manufacturing to meet the growing needs of airlines.
The company plans to deliver between 400 and 450 737 MAX planes this year, up from 374 planes in 2022. It also plans to deliver between 70 and 80 787 planes this year.
Airbus, a European rival, said this week that it wants to hire 13,000 more people this year. About 7,000 of these jobs will be brand new, and 9,000 new hires will be based in Europe.
It should have said something about how many new jobs would be done in the U.S. in 2023.
The number of people working for the U.S. planemaker is getting close to what it was before the pandemic, which at the end of 2019 was 161,000. After it announced job cuts, the number of workers dropped to about 141,000 in 2020.
“Hiring is no longer a problem,” Dave Calhoun, the CEO, told analysts on Wednesday. “People can find the workers they need. It’s about training and getting them ready to do the complex work we need.”
Boeing wants the White House to back sales of the 737 MAX in China.
As Boeing works to get people to trust the 737 MAX again, the company is focusing on China as the next place to sell the plane. However, reports say the plane manufacturer wants help from the U.S. government.
An executive wants to move the company forward by making things better with the White House. It comes after the company reached a small goal in China, even though it still needs to do better than rival Airbus, which has been doing well lately.
The aircraft maker has made some progress on the 737 MAX in China for the first time in almost four years. China Southern Airlines was the first Chinese airline to fly with the plane since it was grounded in 2019. This happened earlier this month.
People say that the U.S. and China have tried to find things they can agree on. Bloomberg says that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to go to Beijing in early February. A November trip to the U.S. by Chinese President Xi Jinping for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO summit could follow this.
Ziad Ojakli is the Executive Vice President of Government Operations at Boeing. He is the one who conceived the plan. As a company executive council member, Ojakli is also the company’s top lobbyist. He is working to improve the manufacturer’s relationships with government officials in China so that the company can sell more 737 MAX planes there.
When Simple Flying asked for comment on Saturday, a spokesperson said, “We don’t have anything to add.” But in October, a U.S. Trade Representative talked to Bloomberg and said that Boeing was a major exporter.
The person said, “Boeing is a critical stakeholder.” “But doesn’t decide our trade policy on its own.”
Even though Ojakli is going to bring the aircraft maker to the attention of the White House, President Biden is focused on more important things, like the tensions over Taiwan and the work being done to separate the U.S. and China’s economies, which are the two largest in the world.
Creating better relationships
Last year, Boeing moved its world headquarters from Chicago to Virginia, close to the Pentagon and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In recent years, both agencies have been looking into the company, it reportedly did this to improve its relationship with the government.
Loren Thompson, a defense consultant executive, has been watching politics for a long time and talked about Boeing’s move to ch-aviation.
Read Also: Boeing faces charges over Max 737 crashes
In recent years, China switched from Boeing to Airbus, which was a bad move for Boeing. As a result, only eight planes were sent to China last year, while its European rival sent more than 100.
According to ch-aviation, Biden’s team has focused on Chinese business practices that hurt many U.S. companies during US-China talks rather than trying to get specific changes for Boeing.
This comes in the wake of the aircraft company being charged with fraud in two plane crashes that killed 346 people. The company will have to go to court soon to defend itself.
Both accidents were caused by problems with the 737 Max’s flight control systems, which led to nosedives.
