WICHITA — Cessna Aircraft Co., the nation’s largest builder of corporate jets, said Friday that it is laying off another 1,300 workers, raising the number of jobs eliminated to half of its workforce since November as the recession has depressed demand for its planes.
Cessna said the cuts will affect all its facilities.
“The fact is this is a cyclical industry, and right now we are in the worst part of the cycle. Our industry continues to struggle,” said company spokesman Robert Stangarone.
“There are signs of an economic recovery, and 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 behind the general economy by about eight quarters, he said.
Cessna told workers that the first 800 60-day layoff notices, affecting mostly production workers, will go out by the end of next week. The company 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 is a unit of Textron Inc. of Providence, R.I. The Associated Press
