Cessna Job Cuts Exceed 4,500

Wichita, Kan.-based Cessna Aircraft has issued 60-day notices to another 2,000 employees, bringing the total number of cuts that the manufacturer has announced since November to around 4,600. In a letter to employees late last week, Chairman & CEO Jack Pelton noted the global economic crisis, continuing deterioration of the market and reduced production rates as factors in the further layoffs. Around 4,000 of the cuts are at the company’s Wichita facility. “These numbers are profound, especially when you look beyond the numbers to the Cessna families that are affected. It’s extremely painful for all of us to lose so many of our colleagues and friends,” Pelton wrote in the letter. In addition, the Citation Service Center in Toledo, Ohio will close at the end of March. In total, the reduction amounts to approximately 30 percent of Cessna’s workforce, according to the Wichita Eagle. Shown above is the front-page newspaper story from Friday, Jan. 30.
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