Cessna Aircraft announces 1,300 more layoffs, longer furloughs

Cessna Aircraft Co., the nation's largest builder of corporate jets, said it's laying off 1,300 ,ore workers, raising the number of jobs eliminated to half of its work force since Nov. as the recession has depressed demand for its planes. Cessna said cutbacks will affect all its facilities. "The fact is this is a cyclical industry & right now we're in the worst part of the cycle. Our industry continues to struggle," said company. "There are signs of an economic recovery & the recession may have reached the bottom, but it will still be some time before we see the kind of growth in the economy that will drive new airplane sales," he said. The aircraft industry lags the general economy by about 8 quarters, he said. Cessna told workers 1st 800 60-day layoff notices, affecting mostly production workers, will go out June 19. It then will mostly shut down for a previously scheduled furlough period from June 22 to July 17. The remaining 500 affected workers will get their notices after they return, but no later than Aug. 14. Cessna, a unit of Textron of Providence, RI also announced additional three-week furlough companywide on top of those moves. "We are still seeing orders being canceled. We still see lots of customers waiting to see if the recovery in the economy comes to fruition. We see the average daily airplane utilization, that continues to decline. And aircraft financing remains difficult for our customers," it said. Cessna has laid off about half its employees since the 1st round of cuts was announced in Nov. It employed nearly 16,000 people last year -- including about 12,000 in Wichita -- before the economic downturn slashed global demand for corp. aircraft. The new job cuts come on top of 6,900 layoffs since Nov. Workers had been bracing for the next round of layoffs since the company warned them earlier this month that still more cutbacks were coming. In April, Cessna announced it's laying off 2,300 workers across the company & closing its Bend, OR, plant as it tries to restructure its product line amid falling plane orders. Production of the Corvalis high-performance, single-engine planes at the Bend plant will move to Independence.