Thu, Nov 06, 2008
Latest Company To Feel Effects Of Economic Slump
The latest stop by The Recession Fairy is Kerrville, TX. Mooney
Aircraft announced Wednesday it will cut production as it tries to
sell excess inventory into a slumping marketplace... and fewer
planes in production means fewer workers will be needed to build
them.
The San Antonio Business Journal reports Mooney laid off 229
employees in Kerrville. Company spokesman Dave Franson said the
cutbacks are needed to "balance its finished airplane inventory
with current demand.
"These are temporary adjustments and they only affect our
manufacturing operations," Franson added. "So our (other
operations) will continue to operate normally and be staffed at the
normal level. There will not be any change to existing or potential
customers and we will deliver airplanes as scheduled."
Mooney CEO Bob Gowens told state employment officials the
company couldn't have seen the latest round of layoffs coming.
"These unexpected and unforeseeable conditions are beyond Mooney
Airplane Company's control," Gowens wrote in a letter to the Texas
Workforce Commission. "It was impossible for Mooney Airplane
Company to predict this sudden collapse in demand at the time when
notice would have been required."
As ANN reported, Mooney laid off 80 workers in
June, leaving about 320 workers at its plant at Schreiner Field
(ERV).
Mooney's normal production has been running at about a hundred
planes a year. The production cut comes in a week which has already
seen Grob Aerospace enter full insolvency, and Cessna and Hawker
Beechcraft announce production and workforce cuts.
Franson said the latest layoffs were effective immediately, and
will leave about 91 employees at Mooney. The company hopes to start
building airplanes again when the economy rebounds and demand
increases, he added.
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