BA Boeing Co

By Doug Cameron 

Boeing Co. said it would reassign as many as 3,000 workers that make the 737 MAX, and its biggest supplier announced plans for voluntary layoffs ahead of a planned production halt of the grounded jetliner.

Boeing said in a memo to employees on Monday that it doesn't plan to furlough any staff when it suspends production of the MAX in the middle of this month to limit further pressure on its finances. The aerospace giant said it would shift workers to look after the fleet of around 800 grounded jets and build other aircraft. Boeing announced plans last month to halt MAX production as it awaits regulatory approval for the MAX to return to service and the resumption of jet deliveries, with no certainty on the timing of such a move.

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., which makes the fuselage and other parts for the MAX, is also suspending production and said Monday it is evaluating a voluntary layoff package for some employees to address ramifications from the suspension of a production program that accounts for half of its sales.

Boeing has been assembling around 40 planes a month at its plant near Seattle since the MAX was grounded globally in March following two fatal crashes of the aircraft within five months. The two accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia claimed a combined 346 lives.

The company said some staff at its huge Renton assembly plant near Seattle would be reassigned to work on its 767 and 777 jets at a facility in Everett, Wash. Boeing said others would be transferred to aircraft-storage sites in Moses Lake, Wash., and Victorville, Calif. that host undelivered MAX jets requiring regular maintenance. Undelivered MAX jets are also being stored in San Antonio.

Boeing said it didn't know how long the reassignments would last, given the uncertainty over regulatory approval for changes to the MAX flight-control systems and pilot-training regime.

Many suppliers had said they favored Boeing maintaining some production, citing the risk of losing workers in a tight labor market during a halt. They said furloughing staff and stopping machinery would be harder than lowering production, and that restarting assembly lines would be costly.

Boeing has said it will stop accepting MAX parts from suppliers later this month.

Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 06, 2020 18:24 ET (23:24 GMT)

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