BOEING TO STOP MAKING 717S ANNOUNCEMENT EXPECTED TODAY.Byline: Felix Sanchez Staff Writer LONG BEACH - The Boeing Co. is expected to announce today that it will end production of the 717, the last commercial jetliner built in California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). , employees said Thursday. The aerospace giant will close the assembly line which traces its lineage LINEAGE. Properly speaking lineage is the relationship of persons in a direct line; as the grandfather, the father, the son, the grandson, &c. to the McDonnell-Douglas Co., though production of the C-17 military cargo plane cargo plane n → avión m de carga cargo plane n → avion-cargo m cargo plane cargo n → will continue. The move throws into question the future of at least 750 workers. On Thursday, Boeing executives with the 717 program and the Boeing Long Beach Commercial Site met individually with groups of plant workers to tell them the plane's production line would end after existing orders are filled. The last plane to roll off the line would likely occur in mid- mid- pref. Middle: midbrain. 2006, Patt McKenna, vice president and general manager of the 717 program wrote to employees in a memo. A Boeing spokesman would not comment on the memo Thursday. ``Layoffs will occur over time, as the program is phased out,'' McKenna's memo stated. ``However, attrition Attrition The reduction in staff and employees in a company through normal means, such as retirement and resignation. This is natural in any business and industry. Notes: may help mitigate mit·i·gate v. To moderate in force or intensity. mit  i·ga tion n. the number of layoffs, and a number of employees will move to other programs or to other jobs in Boeing. We do not have an estimate at this time.'' After nearly two years of internal wrangling at Boeing's corporate headquarters in Chicago, the company could not find enough customers to buy the 100-seat plane, even though airlines, analysts and Boeing engineers praised its ease of use and performance. ``This was an extremely difficult decision,'' McKenna wrote. ``However, we must face current market realities. The projected demand for our airplane airplane, aeroplane, or aircraft, heavier-than-air vehicle, mechanically driven and fitted with fixed wings that support it in flight through the dynamic action of the air. will not sustain a profitable production line.'' Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill was told about the decision on Thursday afternoon by McKenna. ``Boeing is an invaluable member of this community,'' O'Neill said. ``We're really deeply disappointed in this news.'' About 2,500 Boeing employees work in the Boeing Commercial Aviation Services and Boeing Commercial airplanes Boeing Commercial Airplanes is a unit of The Boeing Company, based in Renton, Washington consisting of the Seattle-based former Boeing Airplane Company (the civil airliner division), as well as the Long Beach-based Douglas Aircraft division of the former McDonnell Douglas division in Long Beach, which includes the 717 program, as well as departments that perform work for commercial airplane manufacturing in Boeing's giant Renton, Wash., facility near Seattle, where all other Boeing commercial planes are made. In all, Boeing is Long Beach's largest employer, with 10,500 workers at its 717 and C-17 military cargo plane assembly plants and other operations. Felix Sanchez, (562) 438-4540 felix.sanchez(at)presstelegram.com |
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