Wichita is bracing for more job cuts at Cessna Aircraft and temporary furloughs at Hawker Beechcraft, the online newsletter AIN Alerts reported on June 5.
In a letter sent on June 2, Hawker Beech vice president of human resources Rich Jiwanlal informed company employees about three mandatory furlough periods-June 29 to July 2, November 23 to 25 and December 21 to 24-that are “based on business needs, including product line and plant-specific requirements,” the report said. The furloughs will be unpaid, unless employees use vacation time, Jiwanlal said.
In addition, Cessna Aircraft’s parent, Textron, said in a June 4 SEC filing that “Cessna…informed its employees that continued order cancellations and weakness in general aviation markets are forcing further revisions to its aircraft production outlook, which will result in additional reductions in Cessna’s workforce.”
Textron didn’t say how many Cessna employees will be affected or update its production plans, offering instead that it will update its outlook in July, when it releases its second-quarter results. In April, Cessna readjusted Citation production rates for 2009 to 290 to 300 aircraft, down from the 325 called for in January and far less than the 525 annual rate announced last year.
