Aerospace and weapons giant Boeing Co told employees in a memo that, as part of a "second phase of involuntary layoffs," it would fire "hundreds of engineering employees" from its commercial airplanes division, according to a new report.
On Monday, Boeing said that the hundreds of job cuts would start on June 23, according to a memo to employees provided to Reuters.
In the memo, John Hamilton, vice president of engineering at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said the layoffs were part of an effort to slash costs amid a lag in aircraft sales.
"We are moving forward with a second phase of involuntary layoffs for some select skills in Washington state and other enterprise locations," Hamilton wrote. "We anticipate this will impact hundreds of engineering employees. Additional reductions in engineering later this year will be driven by our business environment and the amount of voluntary attrition."
The layoffs will help the multinational corporation "meet our operating plan and additional challenges in the marketplace," Hamilton added. A Boeing spokesman would not indicate which "other enterprise locations" would be affected by the layoffs, Bloomberg News reported.
The layoffs come on top of involuntary job cuts of 245 workers that will go into effect on May 19, Reuters reported.
Earlier this year, some 1,500 mechanics and 305 engineers and technical workers for Boeing agreed to leave the company voluntarily, according to Bloomberg News.
Boeing's total revenue in 2016 dropped by 1.6 percent to 94.6 billion. Since March 2016, the company's workforce has fallen by 7.6 percent, to 146,962, according to Bloomberg.
Amid the dip in its jetliner sales, Boeing has made waves in seeking new markets for its products. In recent months, the company has announced two major deals with Iranian airlines for aircraft, causing agitation among Iran hardliners in the US Congress. Boeing's dealings with Iranian companies indicate the company wants to be the first in 40 years to sell and export American aircraft to Iranian entities.
Boeing's latest job-cut announcement caused the company's stock to go up $2.62, providing an 18-point boost to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, according to MarketWatch.