Spirit to furlough hourly employees on 737 Max program in Wichita as Boeing stops work
Most Spirit AeroSystems hourly employees in Wichita directly associated with production work and support functions for the 737 program will be furloughed beginning Monday, according to Spirit. The furloughs are in response to Boeing’s directive to Spirit to stop producing 737 Max ship sets, Spirit officials said.
It will affect around 900 people at the company.
Spirit will implement the furloughs for the Wichita employees through July 6 for a total of 21 days, said Keturah Austin, senior manager for corporate communications at Spirit.
The furloughs are needed because of the continued effect of COVID-19 on the airline industry and the uncertainty surrounding the return to service of the 737 Max, Austin said.
Spirit is the largest employer in Wichita, according to the Greater Wichita Partnership. The company employs around 13,000 people full-time in the area.
“This difficult decision was made to help safeguard the financial health and stability of the company,” Austin wrote in an email to The Eagle. “We acknowledge the hardship this will have on our employees, and we’re thankful for their commitment and understanding during this difficult time.”
There will be some exceptions in who will experience a furlough, according to an email sent to Spirit employees Wednesday afternoon and obtained by The Eagle. Managers will contact workers to let them know if they will be affected.
Employee benefits, including healthcare, will continue for workers on furlough. Individual employees are responsible for filing for any unemployment claims. Spirit will submit the names of affected employees to the state, according to the email.
In mid-April, Spirit was expected to bring back thousands of workers it furloughed amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, the 737 Max was a project troubled before COVID-19 hit.
The company previously implemented 21-day furloughs in response to COVID-19 and had prior cuts in 737 production. Boeing is a major customer of Spirit AeroSystems.
Spirit makes fuselages for the 737 Max, which was grounded by aviation authorities worldwide after two crashes blamed on a design defect killed passengers and crew overseas. Boeing has been struggling to correct problems with the plane and get it in the air once again.
During the pandemic, Spirit had turned to manufacturing some protective medical face shields.
In a Wednesday evening news release, company officials said the furlough decision was due to a directive from Boeing to stop producing 737 Max ship sets, in addition to the continued grounding of the plane and the coronavirus pandemic.
Spirit said Boeing sent a letter on June 4 telling Spirit to pause work on four Max ship sets and to avoid starting production on sixteen additional ship sets that were to be delivered this year. The halt is to continue until further notice from Boeing.
The pause in production is “in order to support Boeing’s alignment of near-term delivery schedules to its customers’ needs in light of COVID-19’s impact on air travel and airline operations, and in order to mitigate the expenditure of potential unnecessary production costs,” Spirit officials wrote in the news release.
Spirit officials said they expect Boeing to reduce production for this year by at least 20 ship sets, though the company “does not yet have definitive information.” The current production plan for 2020 calls for 125 ship sets.
In addition to the Wichita furloughs, Spirit will “declare an immediate reduction of the hourly workforce” in Tulsa and McAlester, Oklahoma.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 4:23 PM.
