Boeing To Restart Plane Factories Next Week In Seattle Area

Boein
BA
g will restart production of commercial airplanes at its core factories in the Puget Sound region of Washington State next week, the company said Thursday, with a series of new measures to stem the transmission of coronavirus among its workforce.

The announcement will come as welcome relief for the 27,000 production workers who have been idled since March 25, and without pay for most since April 8, following the spread of the disease among staff. But it will be far from a return to business as usual. With Boeing’s airline customers canceling and deferring orders amid a steep decline in air travel, investors and workers are waiting to hear how much the rate of production will be slowed.

Workers on the 737, 747, 767 and 777 programs will return to work as early as the third shift on April 20, with most back by April 21, the company said. Work will resume on the 787 line in Everett as third shift April 23, with most staff returning by April 24.

Boeing’s 787 factory in South Carolina will remain closed.

Among a series of measures to reduce the risks of transmitting the disease, Boeing said shift start times will be staggered to avoid crowding as workers arrive and depart. Employees will be asked to perform “self-health checks” at home before coming to work, and voluntary temperature checks will be conducted. All workers will be required to wear face coverings.

The company said work will resume toward restarting production of the 737 MAX, which has been halted since the beginning of January following months of setbacks in finalizing changes to its flight control system stemming from two deadly crashes that led regulators to ground the plane worldwide in March 2019.

Boeing this week put about 2,500 Puget Sound-area employees back to work producing military aircraft.

Keeping revenue coming in on the defense side of the business will be crucial with Boeing’s airline customers in crisis. The company lost 150 orders for the 737 MAX to cancellation in March, and its commercial backlog fell by a net 307 planes in the first quarter as it accounted for orders that airlines are now unlikely to take delivery of.

Airbus said last week it would reduce output by 30% of its A320, A330 and A350 aircraft lines. Analysts believe Boeing will cut production by at least that much, and potentially more.

Investors will be looking for clarity by the time of its first-quarter earnings report April 29.

Boeing said April 2 it would seek to reduce its headcount by offering workers buyouts, with CEO David Calhoun citing a need to “start adjusting to our new reality now” of a smaller market after the end of the pandemic.

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