The numbers aren’t huge compared with the massive layoffs that have swept across Wichita, but Cessna had positive news this week, confirming it is adding 150 employees by bringing back some laid-off workers and hiring new ones. Unfortunately, the announcement comes days after Hawker Beechcraft sent 60-day layoff notices to about 350 workers in Wichita.
Cessna currently employs about 7,800, including 4,850 in Wichita and 460 in Independence, Kansas. In 2008, Cessna employed nearly 12,000 people in Wichita before cutting about half of its workforce. Demand for business jets and piston airplanes has been soft ever since, although the 150 workers the company is adding are needed to boost aircraft production, the company says.
Hawker Beechcraft, meanwhile, is in dire financial shape as the company ** grapples with a crushing debt load** and teeters on the edge of bankruptcy.
