Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. said it plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or more than 6 percent of its workforce, after a strike and program delays led to a fourth-quarter loss and a global recession began to erode demand for aircraft.

The job reductions include 4,500 that were previously announced by Boeing, the second-largest maker of commercial planes and the No. 2 defense contractor. The new target was disclosed on a conference call after the Chicago-based company reported a net loss of $56 million after a year-earlier profit and said 2009 earnings will be lower than analysts predicted.

Boeing expects an increase in canceled or deferred orders this year as airlines cope with a drop in travel demand and tight credit. Almost a third of the world’s carriers are likely to defer deliveries this year, up from 8 percent three months ago, a survey released last week by UBS Investment Research showed.

“We can and must prepare for the continued market uncertainty,” Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney, 59, said on the call. The company is taking steps to manage costs and investments more aggressively, he said.

The 5,500 new job cuts announced today will be spread out over the year, with emphasis on the first half, and will come from support services, corporate positions and the defense side of the business, McNerney said. He also said he’s planning “additional measures to further strengthen the team” after making personnel changes at the commercial unit last month.

The CEO didn’t elaborate on those plans, and spokesman Todd Blecher said he had no further information.

Earnings Results

The planemaker’s fourth-quarter net loss was 8 cents a share, compared with net income of $1.03 billion, or $1.36, a year earlier. Sales decreased 27 percent to $12.7 billion.

Boeing rose 2 cents to $43.24 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has declined 44 percent in the past 12 months.

Six planes on order were canceled last year and 110 were deferred, affecting about 3 percent of Boeing’s backlog, McNerney said. That figure will be “somewhat” higher in 2009, spokesman Blecher said after the call, declining to be more specific.

The cancellations will likely just reduce the company’s so- called overbookings, the CEO said. For example, there are about 15 percent more orders for the 737 than the company can produce.

Profit may be $5.05 to $5.35 a share this year, Boeing said today, trailing the average estimate of $5.70 in a Bloomberg survey of analysts and also Boeing’s own forecast from July of $6.80 to $7. The company didn’t issue a forecast in the third- quarter results because of the strike and the global recession and credit crunch that were taking hold.

Dreamliner and Strike

Earnings also are being weighed down by development costs on the delayed 787 Dreamliner, which is now due to reach the first customer in early 2010, about two years later than planned. An eight-week machinists strike that ended Nov. 2 added to the delays for the 787 and other new programs and stripped $1.8 billion from full-year earnings.

A customer who asked to remain unidentified recently canceled all 15 of the 787 Dreamliners it had on order, more because of the business environment the customer faced than because of the delays, McNerney said. More of the 895 remaining orders could be canceled this year, he added.

“Despite a modest level of orders churn, we are confident in the 787’s value to our customers,” he said.

Boeing shipped 50 aircraft in the quarter, 70 fewer than planned, hurting revenue by $4.3 billion and setting it further behind Airbus SAS, the only larger commercial-plane maker.

Delivery Forecast

Boeing said today it plans to deliver 480 to 485 planes this year, less than its July estimate of 500 to 505, and may have to provide $1 billion in financing to customers who can’t find funding elsewhere. It shipped 375 planes last year, below its earlier plan of at least 475.

“Obviously we can do more than a billion dollars, and we’ll have to see on a case-by-case basis what makes sense,” Chief Financial Officer James Bell said on the call. He said he expects production rates to remain stable throughout Boeing’s forecasting planning period, though “the out-years are less certain.”

New orders will probably be lower than deliveries this year, McNerney said.

Job Reductions

McNerney told employees in November that Boeing would cut jobs and reduce costs to help offset expenses from aircraft program delays and to brace for possible order cancellations amid slumping air travel.

Boeing announced 4,500 job cuts in the commercial business on Jan. 9, mainly at its manufacturing hub in Washington state. Boeing, which has a record $279 billion backlog of plane orders to fill, said then that the dismissals would start in February and focus on areas not directly associated with production.

The charges and savings involved with the lost jobs are included in the company’s forecast, McNerney said today.

Through yesterday, U.S. companies had announced more than 519,895 job cuts since Nov. 1, according to Bloomberg data. Newly elected President Barack Obama has proposed a plan to create as many as 4 million jobs to boost the economy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Susanna Ray in Seattle at sray7@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: January 28, 2009 16:39 EST