Northrop Will Cut 1,100 More Jobs in ’99

Aircraft parts maker Northrop Grumman Corp. will cut an additional 1,100 jobs next year as a result of Boeing Co.’s plan to slash jet production, a company spokeswoman said.

The new layoffs, revealed to workers Monday, will hit Northrop’s Hawthorne plant as well as commercial jet parts facilities in Dallas, Georgia and Florida, according to Northrop spokeswoman Georgia Engle.

Seattle-based Boeing’s 717 model, which is built in Long Beach, received a boost this week, with an order worth about $320 million for 10 of its 100-seat jets. The order, from Irish leasing company Pembroke Capital Ltd., breaks an eight-month order drought for the McDonnell Douglas-designed plane.

But Boeing’s announcement last week that it will sharply reduce production of its 747 jumbo jet dealt a new blow to Northrop, which already planned 2,600 job cuts in its commercial aircraft unit in 1999.

Sales to Boeing account for 12% of Northrop’s overall revenue, Northrop spokesman Jim Taft said.

In New York Stock Exchange trading, Northrop shares rose 63 cents to close at $79.56; Boeing shares rose $1.81 to $34.75. Northrop’s announcement was made after the close of U.S. markets.

Last week, Northrop said it will lose about $150 million in sales next year because of the latest Boeing cutbacks.

The earlier layoffs, announced in August, reflected the first 747 production rate cut as well as a companywide restructuring aimed at saving $300 million in annual costs.

Taken together, the two Northrop announcements will result in 3,700 layoffs next year in its commercial aerostructures operations. Engle said about 1,100 of those jobs are held by contract employees.

The company’s Hawthorne plant, where the 747 fuselages are built, will lose about 60% of its current work force in 1999, Engle said. At that facility, Northrop will lay off 900 employees and all 600 of its contract workers during the next year.

Companywide, Northrop expects employment to fall about 17%, or about 9,000 workers, from its current work force of about 54,000. Many of the expected layoffs will come as production ends for the B-2 Stealth bomber in Palmdale.

Northrop, the sixth-largest U.S. aerospace and defense company, had earlier predicted sales of about $9.36 billion in 1999, after an expected $9 billion this year.