Spirit AeroSystems To Furlough Hourly Employees Working On Boeing 737 MAX

(RTTNews) - Spirit AeroSystems (SPR) said it will place certain Wichita hourly employees directly associated with production work and support functions for the 737 MAX program on a 21 calendar day unpaid temporary layoff/furlough effective June 15.

In addition, Spirit AeroSystems will declare an immediate reduction of the hourly workforce in Tulsa and McAlester, Okla., effective Friday, June 12.

The furloughs are in response to Boeing's directive to Spirit to pause producing 737 Max shipsets. It will reportedly affect about 900 jobs at Spirit.

Spirit said it believes there will be a reduction to its previously disclosed 2020 737 MAX production plan of 125 shipsets. Spirit does not yet have definitive information on what the magnitude of the reduction will be but expects it will be more than 20 shipsets.

The 737 MAX grounding coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic is a challenging, dynamic and evolving situation. During this time, Spirit plans to work with Boeing to determine a definitive production plan for 2020 and manage the 737 MAX production system and supply chain.