In December, Boeing announced plans to temporarily halt production for an undetermined period but it has now confirmed that it has officially stopped production of its 737 Max airplane.
While the company will not furlough or lay off workers due to the shutdown, the decision will affect its supply chain, as well as hamper the US economic growth. The shutdown will also make it challenging for Boeing to restart production and recover from the crisis once it receives permission to fly the planes again.
The Boeing 737 Max planes were grounded globally in March following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. This has cost Boeing billions of dollars and the company is insisting on having the plane approved to fly again in the US by the end of the year and to start commercial service as soon as January.
US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Stephen Dickson said that the agency will prohibit the flying of the Boeing 737 Max airplane for the rest of 2019 but could not tell yet when the plane will receive approval to fly again.
However, he mentioned that there are 10 or 11 different steps in the certification process that needs to be accomplished before it receives approval. He said: “If you do the math, it’s going to extend into 2020.”
Boeing would not release an official count of people who had been working on the plane but the company said the employees will be reassigned to other duties during the shutdown.
Meanwhile, Boeing's largest supplier of fuselage and other parts for the Max, Spirit AeroSystems, announced on January 10 that it would lay off 2,800 employees in Wichita, Kansas. The company's shutdown is expected to last longer as it continued to produce fuselages monthly at a higher rate than Boeing's production pace.
