By the Associated Press and KFDI News:
Boeing Company will temporarily stop producing its grounded 737 Max jet starting in January as it struggles to get approval from regulators to put the plane back in the air.
The company says it will halt production at its plant with 12,000 employees in Renton, Washington, near Seattle.
It says, however, it doesn’t immediately expect any layoffs as a result of the production halt. But layoffs could ripple through some of the 900 companies that supply parts for the plane.
Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita is one of the companies that has worked on production of the Max. Spirit officials issued a statement late Monday:
Following the announcement from Boeing that they would temporarily halt production of the 737 MAX, we are working closely with our customer to determine what that means for Spirit. As decisions are made on how to best mitigate this additional impact, we will communicate any new information to employees and other stakeholders.
The Max has been grounded since March after two deadly crashes.
