Two Dozen Of 150 Who Were Idled To Report Back To Work

About two dozen engineers who were among the 150 who had received layoff notices from Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita have been recalled to work, though the company is being tight-lipped about the project on which they will be working.

The employees were notified that they would be idled in September, though they have continued on the payroll through November 11, according to a report in the Wichita Eagle. Spirit spokesman Ken Evans told the paper that the company's "work statement changed" but "we're not going to state the program that they're working on."

Evans said the engineers could return to work as soon as they can.

The layoff notices went out to about 150 salaried and management employees in mid-September. Evans said "we're not in a position to report how many are going to come back."

In a related development, the first leading and trailing edge wing structures for the A320neo program have been shipped by Spirit Aerosystems to Airbus' Prestwick, Scotland, site. Several hundred Spirit employees celebrated the program milestone along with representatives from Airbus at a ceremony marking the achievement.

"The on-time delivery of Spirit's first shipment in support of the A320neo is only possible because of the partnership we have with our Airbus customer," said Scott McLarty, Spirit vice president for UK operations. "This delivery marks an important milestone, and our team is proud to contribute to the success of this program. We look forward to achieving our A321neo first shipment commitment next year with the same level of success."

Spirit's Prestwick operation supports assembly of leading and trailing edges for Airbus single-aisle wings and variants.

FMI: www.spiritaero.com