Boeing has announced a temporary suspension of production operations at its Puget Sound area facilities in light of the state of emergency in Washington state and the company's continuous assessment of the accelerating spread of the coronavirus in the region. These actions will include an orderly shutdown consistent with the requirements of its customers.
Wichita-based Spirit AeroSystems is one of Boeing's major suppliers.
Boeing plans to begin reducing production activity today and projects the suspension of such operations to begin on Wednesday, March 25, at sites across the Puget Sound area. The suspension of production operations will last 14 days, during which Boeing will continue to monitor government guidance and actions on COVID-19 and its associated impacts on all company operations. During this time, the company will be conducting additional deep cleaning activities at impacted sites and establishing rigorous criteria for return to work.
Puget Sound area-based employees who can work from home will continue to do so. Those who cannot work remotely will receive paid leave for the initial 10 working days of the suspension – double the company policy – which will provide coverage for the 14 calendar day suspension period.
Boeing sayt it's working to minimize this suspension's impact on the company's ability to deliver and support its defense and space programs, and ensure the readiness of our defense customers to perform their vital missions. Boeing says it will work closely with those customers in the coming days to develop plans that ensure customers are supported throughout this period. It says critical distribution operations in support of airline, government, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) customers will continue.
