In more bad news for Boeing and Airbus, international passenger traffic declined for the fifth straight month in January. Traffic was down 5.6 percent for the month, according to a research report by UBS Securities.
International traffic decline was led by Asia, which was down 8.4 percent, followed by North America with 6.2 percent and Europe, which was down 5.7 percent, UBS said.
International cargo traffic was down 23 percent in January, the eighth consecutive decline.
UBS Investment Research has downgraded shares of Spirit AeroSystems stock from Neutral to Sell.
Although Spirit’s stock prices are down significantly, “we believe (Spirit stock) is actually more expensive than it looks,” said UBS analyst David Strauss. Spirit is trading in line with similar companies that are its peers, yet it’s more at risk, the report said. That’s because Spirit is less diverse than its peer companies, it said. Spirit receives 90 percent of its revenues from Boeing “and is subject to execution risk on its development programs, mainly the Boeing 787.”
Spirit stock closed at $10.41 Thursday, down 48 cents. It’s 52-week range is $7.14 to $31.49.
More sad news at Cessna Aircraft.
Several hundred Cessna workers in Wichita are receiving 60-day layoff notices today. It’s a continuation of Cessna’s effort to cut 4,000 jobs in Wichita and 4,600 companywide as sales decline and order deferrals and cancellations increase.
Cessna spokesman Doug Oliver said he did not have specific numbers on the notices going out.
But others say the number will fall between 600 and 800.
