Plane maker Boeing plans to cut around 2,000 jobs in finance and human resources departments this year as it focuses on engineering and manufacturing, the company said, as per the BBC. Boeing, which recently relocated its headquarters to Arlington, Virginia, also confirmed that it will be outsourcing about one-third of those jobs to Tata Consulting Services, which is based in Bengaluru, India.
The move comes as the company is putting its resources into "products, services and technology development". "We have and will continue to communicate transparently with our teams that we expect lower staffing within some corporate support functions," the company told the BBC.
"As always, we will support affected teammates and provide assistance and resources to support their transition," it added.
However, Boeing has also stated that it will continue to increase its headcount "with a focus on engineering and manufacturing". Apart from hiring around 15,000 people last year, the plane maker said it aims to recruit another 10,000 this year.
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Notably, Boeing's latest announcement comes after the aviation giant faced a number of issues in recent years, including the grounding of its 737 Max after two fatal crashes. In October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, killing all 189 passengers and crew.
In 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, another Boeing 737 Max on its way to Kenya, also crashed six minutes after leaving Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. The incident killed all 157 people on board.
As per the BBC, it was later reported that both crashes were triggered by design flaws, in particular the use of flight control software known as the "Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System" (MCAS). But after modifications to the aircraft and pilot training, the 737 Max aircraft has now been cleared to fly again in most countries across the globe.
