Additional 28 Took Voluntary Lay Off

Wichita, Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems laid off 282 hourly workers on June 20 with another 28 employees taking voluntary layoffs. 

All those affected will be paid through July 4 and receive their final check on July 11. Their benefits will remain in effect until July 31. The company had notified employees in May that it planned to lay off between 400 and 450 in Wichita due to a slowdown in delivery rates. It attributes the slowdown to a tighter inspection process stemming from the blowout of a faulty door plug from an Alaska Airlines 737 Max during flight in January.

The last major layoff at Spirit’s Wichita plant was in 2020 when curtailed flights due to the pandemic led to 5,000 workers being let go. Spirit is Wichita’s largest employer and its highest number of employees there was 13,200 prior to the worldwide grounding of the 737 Max in 2019 after 346 people lost their lives in two crashes. Spirit currently employs about 12,000 people in Wichita.

Spirit spokesman Joe Buccino said, "To adapt to evolving customer demands and balance our financial situation, Spirit made the difficult decision to reduce its hourly production workforce in Wichita, Kansas by approximately 300. These changes were driven by the need to slow down our operations of Commercial programs due to high inventory levels."

Spirit AeroSystems has expertise in aluminum and advanced composite manufacturing which supports its core product line that includes fuselages, wings and wing components, engine nacelles, and pylons. They provide those components to Boeing and Airbus among others, and also manufacture airframe parts and structures for business/regional jets as well as defense platforms and the MRO market.

FMI:  www.spiritaero.com/company/programs/