Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft Announce New Rounds of Layoffs

The general aviation manufacturing segment continues to be pummeled by the current economic crisis. Last week, Cessna announced another 2,000 pink slips will be distributed, bringing the total to 4,600 since the country's financial downturn began. Most of the new layoffs will be in Wichita. Cessna has suffered mightily from canceled orders, with a reported $64 million drop in fourth-quarter 2008 revenues compared with the same period in 2007. Across town, Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) announced an additional 2,300 layoffs are imminent, adding to the 490 job losses announced earlier. The new layoffs represent a quarter of HBC's overall workforce.