1 McDonnell Douglas Corp. may temporarily halt production of its largest airliner, the MD-11, in 1996 due to a severe shortage of orders for the 300-seat plane, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
2 Company executives emphasized they are working to avert a shutdown, which could mean temporary layoffs for thousands of workers and cast doubt on the future of the MD-11 program, the report said.
3 Without new orders for the three-engine jet, St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas may deliver as few as 10 next year, the newspaper said, citing industry officials.
4 The MD-11 is manufacturered at the company's 10,000-worker factory in Long Beach, California. That facility also produces the smaller MD-80 and MD-90. The company won't say how many people are employed making each type of jet.
5 Herbert J. Lanese, the company's chief financial officer, told the Journal that a decision on halting MD-11 production for as much as half of 1996 will have to be made within five months.
6 Other options include slowing production again, a move that would force the company to further boost efficiency or absorb higher per-jet costs. Another option, Lanese said, is to persuade some customers to take delivery sooner on MD-11s ordered for later years.
7 Harry C. Stonecipher, McDonnell Douglas's new chief executive, acknowledged in a Journal interview that the situation is 'serious,' in part because of unexpected delays in finalizing a Saudi Arabian order considered pivotal to 1996 production.
8 All three global producers of big airliners, including market leader Boeing Co. and second-ranked Airbus Industrie of Europe, have made sharp production cuts amid the airline recession of the 1990s. Last week, Boeing announced 7,000 job cuts and new production cutbacks because of delivery delays by carriers.

Without new orders for the three - engine jet , St . Louis - based McDonnell Douglas may deliver as few as 10 next year , the newspaper said , citing industry officials .
Without new orders for the three - engine jet ,
What is causing the stoppage in orders for these model jets?