Dow flies from Texas to Baton Rouge the week layoffs begin

Dow flew from Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport to Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport on June 11, a 40-minute hop aboard N892D, the company's Bombardier CRJ-900. The flight arrived the same week Dow began notifying roughly 4,500 workers about impending layoffs as part of its "Transform to Outperform" cost-cutting initiative, per a KFDM report on June 11 [kfdm.com](https://kfdm.com/news/local/dow-begins-notifying-about-4500-workers-about-impending-layoffs). A worker told KFDM about 50 employees at the company's Orange, Texas, site were told that day.

The shuttle pattern is familiar: N892D has made multiple round trips between Baton Rouge and the Houston-area airport in recent weeks, a route that mirrors Dow's supply chain between its Louisiana operations and Gulf Coast manufacturing sites. The aircraft's size — a 90-seat regional jet — is unusual for a corporate fleet, but Dow uses it to move engineering teams between its sprawling chemical plants. This week, those teams are likely focused on the Seadrift complex, where the company faces both a legal deadline and a regulatory decision over plastic pellet discharges, as covered by the Texas Tribune in February [texastribune.org](https://www.texastribune.org/2026/02/texas-sues-dow-union-carbide-water-pollution/).

The layoffs come as Dow prepares for a leadership transition: Karen S. Carter is set to become CEO on July 1, succeeding Jim Fitterling, who will become executive chairman, per a Plastics Today report [plasticstoday.com](https://www.plasticstoday.com/materials/dow-announces-leadership-transition). The flight from Texas to Louisiana suggests the company is consolidating operations as it reshapes its workforce.