Boeing to eliminate more than 12,000 U.S. jobs

Boeing announced on Wednesday it is immediately cutting more than 12,000 U.S. jobs, and several thousand more will be eliminated over the next few months.

This week, the company will lay off 6,770 employees. Boeing said an additional 5,520 workers accepted buyout offers, and will leave within the next few weeks. Globally, the company has about 160,000 employees, and most of the layoffs are expected to be in the Seattle area, where workers focus on commercial airplanes, The Associated Press reports.

Air travel is down tremendously because of the coronavirus, and Boeing CEO David Calhoun wrote in a memo to employees on Wednesday that because of this, there will be "a deep cut in the number of commercial jets and services our customers will need in the next few years, which in turn means fewer jobs on our lines and in our offices."