Future of 1,000 Spirit AeroSystems jobs unclear after ventilator contract ends
A contract partnership at Spirit AeroSystems to help increase production of ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic has ended early, leaving the future of around 1,000 aviation jobs at the company uncertain.
Spirit had partnered with Vyaire Medical to help increase ventilator production, but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services canceled its contract for the machines early, Spirit confirmed.
Spirit and Vyaire have now shifted focus from supplying the national stockpile to international markets served by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Work at the Spirit facility is still underway.
“Currently, we are working with Vyaire to better understand why the contract from HHS to build life-saving ventilators in support of the national stockpile is being cancelled early,” said Keturah Austin, a spokesperson for Spirit.
The company’s partnership, first announced in early May, was meant to be temporary. It was previously expected to last through October or possibly longer and help keep around 700 workers employed in the short term.
Over time, the ventilator manufacturing and distribution facility in Wichita grew and now employs more than 1,000 workers, Austin said.
“These are employees who otherwise would have lost their jobs due to the downturn in the commercial aviation market,” Austin said in a statement. “Most ventilators are manufactured overseas, which makes the Spirit-Vyaire facility a strategic U.S. asset for manufacturing medical devices.”
Vyaire had been selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to produce 22,000 ventilators for the Strategic National Stockpile. It was also working to meet requests from states and private hospitals and health care systems.
“Spirit is very proud of its partnership with Vyaire to meet demand for life-saving ventilators in the United States and countries around the world caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Austin said. “In a matter of weeks, Spirit employees quickly transitioned from building aircraft to building ventilators, demonstrating the resiliency and ingenuity of American workers.”
The ventilator work at Spirit was a way the company had diversified its work output, experts previously said, which helped to save some jobs that might otherwise have been lost. At the end of July, Spirit announced it would lay off 450 more workers as the company continued to struggle with the fallout from the 737 Max and the coronavirus pandemic.
“Spirit and its 1,000 employees stand ready to continue meeting demand for critical ventilators in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Austin said.
