Raytheon’s Pratt begins job cuts as virus guts jet-engine demand

Raytheon Technologies began shedding salaried workers at its Pratt & Whitney jet-engine unit as the company prepares for a long slump in sales and repair work. Most of the involuntary cuts will occur over the next few days and affect workers in the US, Canada and Poland, Pratt said in an internal memo Tuesday. Additional reductions are planned for the coming weeks and most of the terminations will be completed by the end of the year. The job losses are part of Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes’s plan to shed some 15,000 posts in the company’s commercial aerospace units, which include Pratt and avionics supplier Collins Aerospace. Pratt rival General Electric has also made deep cuts at its jet-engine operation amid an unprecedented downturn in air travel sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. The salaried reductions were necessary in light of declines in the commercial aviation due to the pandemic, Pratt said. The company declined to specify how many workers would be affected.<br/>