Boeing Strike Delays Delivery of 15 Jets

Boeing Co. said that a three-week engineer strike has delayed 15 of 42 commercial jet deliveries planned for February and that the company is considering shifting some work to plants such as its facility in Long Beach that are unaffected by the strike. A day after declaring an impasse in contract talks and threatening to impose its own terms on 18,000 engineers and technical workers on the picket line, the Seattle-based company said it had not yet determined the financial impact of the strike. The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace went on strike Feb. 9. Moving work to Long Beach, where Boeing assembles the 717 jetliner, or St. Louis, where it makes fighter jets, would be “ridiculous,” union spokesman Bill Dugovich said. Separately, Boeing said Hawaiian Airlines has ordered 13 717-200 model airplanes in a deal worth $430 million. Boeing shares closed down 38 cents at $35.94 on the New York Stock Exchange.