Boeing wants to lay off 10% of its employees in the wake of a factory strike

Boeing plans to lay off about 10% of its workers, about 17,000 people, in the coming months as the company continues to lose money and tries to cope with a strike that is crippling production of the company's best-selling planes.

New CEO Kelly Ortberg told employees in a memo Friday that the job cuts will include executives, managers and employees.

The company employs around 170,000 people worldwide, many of whom work in production facilities in Washington states and South Carolina.

Boeing had already ordered taxiing temporary vacationbut Ortberg said those would be suspended because of the impending layoffs.

The company will further delay the introduction of a new aircraft, the 777X, to 2026 instead of 2025. It will also stop building the cargo version of its 767 jet in 2027 after current orders are completed.

Boeing has lost more than $25 billion since the start of 2019.

About 33,000 union machinists have done this been on strike since September 14th. Two days of negotiations this week failed to reach an agreement, and Boeing filed an unfair labor practice lawsuit against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

As Boeing announced layoffs, Boeing also released a preliminary report on its third-quarter financial results — and the news isn't good for the company.

Boeing said it burned $1.3 billion in cash during the quarter and lost $9.97 per share. According to a FactSet survey, industry analysts had expected the company to post a loss of $1.61 per share this quarter, but analysts likely weren't aware of the large writedowns Boeing announced Friday – a drag of $2.6 billion related to delays to the 777X, $400 million for the 767 and $2 billion for defense and space programs, including new Air Force One jets, a space capsule for NASA and a military tanker aircraft.

The Arlington, Va.-based company said it had $10.5 billion in cash and marketable securities as of Sept. 30. Boeing is expected to report full third-quarter results on October 23.

The strike has a direct impact on cash burn, as Boeing receives half or more of the price of planes when it delivers them to airline customers. The strike has halted production of the 737 Max, Boeing's best-selling plane, as well as the 777x and 767. The company still makes 787s at a non-union plant in South Carolina.

“Our company is in a difficult situation and the challenges we face together can hardly be overstated,” Ortberg told employees. He said the situation “requires difficult decisions and we need to make structural changes to ensure we remain competitive and able to deliver to our customers over the long term.”

Ortberg took the helm at Boeing in August, becoming the troubled company's third CEO in less than five years. He is a long-time aerospace industry executive, but a Outsider for Boeing.

The new CEO faces many challenges in turning the company around.

The Federal Aviation Administration tightened scrutiny of the company after a Panel flew out of a Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Boeing has agreed to plead guilty and pay a fine for conspiring to commit fraud related to the Max, but the relatives of the 346 people who died in two Max crashes want it harsher punishment.

And Boeing attracted attention for all the wrong reasons NASA has decided that a Boeing spacecraft would not be safe enough to carry two astronauts home from the International Space Station.