Spirit Suspends Boeing Production at Wichita, McAlester Plants

Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing’s largest supplier, will follow suit with its largest customer and suspend production of Boeing parts at its Wichita and McAlester, Oklahoma plants for 14 calendar days, beginning on Wednesday, the Wichita-based company announced today. It will continue to support 787 work for Boeing’s Charleston, South Carolina plant as needed, Spirit added.

Employees sent home for the two-week period because of the Boeing suspension will receive pay, but Spirit added once production resumes on Boeing parts it will align its costs and workforce to the new level of production set by Boeing, which “could potentially include additional workforce actions,” Spirit said.

Also, during the production suspension, Spirit will further deep clean and sanitize workspaces and facilities because of Covid-19. “Our focus is on a safe and orderly restart of operations,” the company added.

Operations for Airbus, defense customers, aftermarket, MRO, and third-party fabrication will continue uninterrupted throughout the period. Spirit said those employees should expect to work their regular schedules.