Venetian and Palazzo lay off workers amid downturn
The Venetian and the Palazzo have laid off an additional 194 workers at their casinos in addition to the 283 they laid off in March. The move is aimed to drive down costs.
“It’s an effort to continue to right-size our business,” Las Vegas Sands Corp. spokesman Ron Reese said, adding the layoffs affected a variety of positions in multiple departments at the adjacent resorts on the Las Vegas Strip.
The recession’s affect on the company’s big Las Vegas properties was apparent in the first-quarter numbers for the Venetian, where room occupancy of 89.1 percent was down from 91.1 percent in the 2008 quarter and revenue per available room of $187 was down from $250.
The Palazzo filled 92.7 percent of its rooms with revenue per available room of $204. Its numbers for the 2008 quarter are not comparable since the new resort was ramping up operations at that time.
Together the Las Vegas properties have 7,100 suites. The company also has casinos in Pennsylvania and Macau and is preparing to open a resort in Singapore.
Boeing says 787 delay won’t drain 747 engineers again
Although the 747-8 Intercontinetal was a year late, they are now ahead of schedule and resources won’t be shifted to the Dreamliner project.
“The 787 will identify the requirements they need to address their challenges, but that won’t have an impact on the 747,” Todd Zarfos, the vice president of engineering for the jumbo-jet program, said in an interview today. “Over the last two years we’ve aligned our engineering resource ability to make sure we meet all our commitments.”
The planemaker on Nov. 14 delayed the 747-8’s entry into service, in part because engineers hadn’t been able to shift from the 787 to the jumbo jet as planned. Design changes and a two-month machinists’ strike were also factors. The Intercontinental was postponed a second time in April after Boeing revised its production plans because of the recession.
Boeing’s earlier staffing problems stemmed from having too many development commitments at once, including the 787, the 747-8 freighter and the Intercontinental, Zarfos said. The company resolved the issue by getting support from engineers from the defense side of the business and by hiring outside design centers around the world, including engineers in Moscow, he said.
Japan’s ANA to raise $1.9 billion, orders more Dreamliners
Despite the numerous delays facing the Dreamliner, ANA is confident enough in the plane that they are ordering five more 787s.
Aiming to tap the expected rise in passenger demand from the Haneda [Airport] expansion, ANA has been hiring new staff and is buying new planes to replace existing ones or launch services for new routes.
The extra five Dreamliner orders, worth about $800 million at list prices, represent a vote of confidence in Boeing’s troubled project.
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