April 23--Cessna Aircraft and Beechcraft are laying off hundreds of employees at each company, a company official said.
About 750 full-time and contract employees will be laid off, including 575 in Kansas, the company said.
Cuts will take place in all areas of Beechcraft and Cessna businesses and will affect salaried and hourly employees.
It will span from management to non-management positions, the company said.
The employees are receiving 60-day layoff notices Wednesday morning.
In March, Textron, Cessna's parent company, closed the deal to buy Beechcraft Corp. and formed Textron Aviation.
Cessna employs about 5,400; while Beechcraft employs about 3,500.
The layoffs have been expected as the companies integrate.
Throughout the past several weeks, leaders have been working to combine the businesses, a letter to employees Wednesday morning said.
"As a part of bringing together these businesses, we have identified redundancies in our global workforce that have ultimately led to some very difficult decisions that affect the sizing of our business," said the letter, signed by Jim Walters, Textron Aviation senior vice president of human resources and communications. "We have carefully considered each organization, understanding how each team operates and how each person fits into the organization, to ensure fairness and consistency with this process."
The cuts are not easy, the letter said.
"This is an extremely difficult, yet necessary, step in order to realign the combined businesses with a vision for strengthening the new Textron Aviation segment," it said.
Reach Molly McMillin at 316-269-6708 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @mmcmillin.
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