Boeing Engineers Leave Struggling Planemaker for Space Company: Report (Updated) – Boeing (NYSE:BA)

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a statement from Boeing.

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co B.A reports that more and more engineers are moving to space companies.

What happened: The average tenure of a Boeing engineer has fallen to 12.6 years from 16.4 years in the last decade, the Financial Times reported, citing data from the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, a union that represents 12,000 Boeing engineers. According to union data, tenure is getting shorter in every age group.

The departure of engineering talent could make it more difficult for the company to bring a new aircraft to market, the report said. At the same time, he added that the troubled aircraft maker is a good place for space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin to poach talent.

While rival space companies continue to pursue big goals and develop new vehicles, Boeing has not yet announced a new aircraft, according to the FT.

“Boeing is an aircraft company and at the right time in the future we need to develop a new aircraft. But we still have a lot of work to do before then,” Ortberg said during the third-quarter earnings call.

However, Boeing told Benzinga in a statement that the voluntary turnover rate at Boeing Engineering remains in the low single digits.

“In this dynamic industry, Boeing remains in a strong position to compete for and retain top aerospace engineering talent with market-leading salaries, benefits and work-life balance. “For several years, the voluntary turnover rate at Boeing Engineering remained in the low single digits and has declined since 2022,” the company spokesman said.

Why it matters: Boeing has been in trouble since early this year, when a door panel flew off an Alaska Airlines plane manufactured by the company.

Later that year, technical problems were discovered with the Starliner spacecraft manufactured by the company, leading the space agency NASA not to return the two astronauts who had flown on the Starliner to the International Space Station on the same spacecraft. The astronauts are now scheduled to return to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in March at the earliest.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in October that Boeing would reduce its workforce by 10%. The layoffs are expected to impact nearly 17,000 jobs. Ortberg then said that the layoffs were necessary to be consistent with Boeing’s financial reality and future turnaround plans.

Price promotion: Boeing shares closed up 0.6% at $180.38 on Thursday. The stock is down 28.4% year-to-date, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Boeing has a consensus price target of $197.85, based on ratings from 23 analysts tracked by Benzinga. Analysts give the stock a consensus rating of “buy”.

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