Posted: Thu, May 22, 2008, 6:45 AM ET (1045 GMT)
The Boeing Company announced Wednesday that it would lay off 750 workers at two satellite manufacturing facilities in southern California because of a downturn in business. The employees at the facilities in El Segundo and Seal Beach will receive 60-day layoff notices in May and July, although the company said that it would try to transfer as many affected workers as possible to other company facilities. Boeing officials blamed the layoffs on decreased demand for large satellites by commercial customers as well as the stretching out of government contract awards. The announcement comes a week after Boeing lost a lucrative contract for the next generation of GPS satellites to Lockheed Martin.

Related Links:

•  Reuters article
•  AP article
•  Space News article (subscription required)
•  The Daily Breeze article
•  Boeing press release