Saying the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect operations, GE Aviation, headquartered in Evendale, said Monday it will cut its global workforce by as much as 25%, or about 13,000 jobs. This includes already announced cuts.
"We are developing our plan for permanent reductions to our global employee base that we anticipate will bring our total reductions this year to as much as 25% (including both voluntary and involuntary actions already announced)," writes David Joyce, president and CEO,in a statement.
In March, GE Aviation announced it was cutting 10% of its U.S. workforce, including about 2,600 local jobs. The new statement doesn't include how many people will be affected locally. GE Aviation has about 10,000 workers in the Greater Cincinnati region.
Joyce says the company has taken "difficult cost-cutting actions" during the past months but more is required. The company is planning for $1 billion of cost actions and $2 billion of cash actions this year.
"Global traffic is expected to be down approximately 80% in the second quarter when compared to the start of the pandemic's effect in China in early February," Joyce says. "Our aircraft manufacturers have announced reduced production schedules that will extend into 2021 and beyond reacting to the projected prolonged recovery."
Joyce says the company expects to implement a comprehensive strategy in the coming months to resize the business, adding he's equally confident the measures being taken are necessary and that the industry will recover.
