Boeing has announced plans to cut more than 4,500 jobs by the middle of the year for the purpose of reducing cost.
Company spokesman, Doug Adler, disclosed that about 1,600 positions will go through voluntary redundancies while the rest will take place through attrition.
He said hundreds of executives and managers are also expected to lose their jobs.
Adler said Boeing promised only to use “involuntary layoffs” as a last resort:
“Staffing reductions through mid-year, including hundreds of executives and managers, are projected to total approximately 4,000 positions – none of which involve involuntary layoffs.”
The cuts account for almost 3% of Boeing’s workforce, which comprised 161,000 people at the end of last year.
The aircraft maker also revealed it would cut deliveries by about 20 commercial jets in 2016, although it said that reduction was due to a transition from the 737, its best selling jet, to the 737 MAX, a new version of that plane.
Boeing is reacting to concern that demand for its jets is slowing.
Boeing has also been losing market share to rival Airbus Group SE.