Boeing has begun preparations to hire “a few hundred” temporary employees at Moses Lake, Washington, to perform jobs associated with returning the 737 Max to service. The external job openings call for skills specific to avionics technicians, aircraft mechanics, airframe and powerplant (A&P) mechanics, and aircraft electricians, according to a company spokesman. The company said it would offer external hires paid housing and a meal allowance and post job openings.
Boeing’s plan for returning the Max to service calls for sending all the airplanes stored outside the Puget Sound region of Washington to Seattle and Everett for ultimate customer delivery. The company would not provide details on total airplanes or capacity at each site
Notwithstanding moves by several Max operators to adjust flight schedules to reflect a return to service of their airplanes next year, Boeing continues to estimate that the airplanes will resume scheduled flights early in the fourth quarter.
“It is the FAA and other global aviation regulators that will determine when the 737 Max returns to service, and we are working tirelessly to meet their requirements,” the company said in a statement. “We will submit our final certification package to the FAA once we have satisfied all of their requirements, which we currently estimate will occur on a time frame to support an early fourth-quarter return to service.”