Boeing suspends production at Puget Sound until further notice
Boeing announced on 5 April that it is extending the suspension of production in at its plants in the Puget Sound area and Moses Lake until further notice.
It previously confirmed a 14-day closure on 23 March to protect its employees from the coronavirus outbreak. Additional measures including the suspension of production at Ridley Township near Philadelphia were also confirmed on 3 April.
Stan Deal, CEO and President of Boeing Commercial Airplanes said: ‘The health and safety of our employees, their families and our communities is our shared priority.’
‘We will take this time to… assess applicable government direction, the spread of the coronavirus in the community and the reliability of our suppliers to ensure we are ready for a safe and orderly return to operations.’
Whilst the Puget Sound facilities are mainly involved with airliner production, the announcement will affect the P-8 and KC-46 lines, which are based on commercial airframes and raises the likelihood that activities in Philadelphia (where the CH-47D and V-22 Osprey are manufactured) may also be under consideration.
Related Programmes in Defence Insight
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
More from Defence Notes
-
Resilience, adaptiveness and collaboration vital for success in space (Studio)
Speakers at the Defence In Space Conference (DISC) 2025 highlighted the critical and evolving role of space in national security, defence and the global economy.
-
Why the NORAD inventory might be the US and Canada’s Achilles’ heel
Both the US and Canada operate Cold War-era capabilities which cannot defeat today’s and tomorrow’s threats.
-
Companies’ results boom as countries dig deep to buy missiles and air defence systems
Air defence systems are continuing to appear top of countries’ shopping lists but broadly across different capabilities it is a sellers’ market, as demonstrated by backlogs and double-digit percentage point growth.