Collins Aerospace to lay off 160 workers next month

CEDAR RAPIDS — A major Cedar Rapids employer will lay off 160 employees in its local operations next month.

Collins Aerospace posted an online notice of the “mass layoff” in accordance with Iowa’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The layoffs take effect April 14.

The notice does not state which positions or departments will be affected by the reduction. Company officials released a statement but declined to comment further:

“To ensure we are best positioned to address our customers’ greatest needs now and into the future, we are taking actions to reduce costs and optimize our organizational structure globally. This includes conducting a small reduction of positions. These actions will allow us to reinvest in high-priority programs, reduce complexity and increase efficiency to better meet the strong demand for aerospace products.”

In 2024, Collins Aerospace reported roughly $28.28 billion in adjusted sales and $4.496 billion in adjusted operating profit. Both were year-over-year increases as compared with 2023.

Collins Aerospace is part of RTX, a global aerospace and defense company that also includes Pratt & Whitney and Raytheon. The North Carolina-based Collins has its avionics and mission system operations in Cedar Rapids and employs about 80,000 people worldwide, with approximately 9,000 based in Iowa. Roughly 7,000 of those Iowa-based positions are located in or around Cedar Rapids.

The last company layoff affecting Cedar Rapids employees took place in October of 2023, when Collins laid off 68 workers as part of its efforts to “align its cost structure with the ongoing aerospace recovery.”