Boeing targeting 10,000 job cuts

By Bill Rigby

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co reported an unexpected fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday and forecast 2009 earnings well below Wall Street estimates as it grapples with a dip in demand for its planes while airlines feel the pain of recession.

Expecting more plane order cancellations and uncertainty over the U.S. defense budget, Boeing Chief Executive Jim McNerney said he was targeting 10,000 job cuts this year, or about 6 percent of the company's total.

That includes the 4,500 job cuts announced by its commercial plane unit earlier this month, with the balance coming from Boeing's defense unit and corporate and support areas.

The plane maker, which is still struggling to recover from a two-month strike by its assembly workers last year, predicted a further dip in plane orders this year after handing back the title of biggest-selling plane maker to rival Airbus last year.

Boeing is likely to book fewer orders than the 480 to 485 deliveries it expects to make this year, said McNerney, a sign that the company is now firmly in a down cycle after a three-year plane sales boom. Last year Boeing booked 662 new orders. The year before it hit an industry record of 1,413 orders.

Boeing shares, which had fallen about 45 percent in the past 12 months, rose in early trading, but sank back 19 cents to $43.06 by midday on the New York Stock Exchange.

"The guidance could have been much lower if Boeing had forecast a more conservative build rate for commercial airplanes in 2009," said Macquarie Securities analyst Rob Stallard.

Boeing, which is based in Chicago, reported a quarterly loss of $56 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $1.03 billion, or $1.36 per share.