Spirit AeroSystems announces further reduction in workforce

Spirit AeroSystems announced Friday it will further reduce employment at its facility in Wichita, Kan., as a result of the most recent rate reduction on the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and the ongoing global pandemic. The pandemic continues to impact the demand for new commercial aircraft and the airline industry as a whole.

"Our production rates for commercial aircraft have fallen from historic highs to significantly lower volumes in a matter of months," said Tom Gentile, president and CEO of Spirit AeroSystems.

The 737 MAX production rate reduction is the third this year, lowering Spirit's production from 125 units to 72 units for 2020, a reduction of more than 80 percent from its 2019 production rates.

To support the alignment of workforce levels with the customer demand for aircraft, Spirit will reduce headcount on commercial programs by 1,100 employees. This announcement represents 450 new layoffs at the Wichita site when taking into account prior layoff notifications and employees transitioning to defense programs, moving to the temporary special project to build ventilators or electing to participate in the voluntary layoff opportunity.

"We are taking this action to better calibrate our employment level to the reduced demand we see from our customers. This action, along with previous actions, is intended to reduce costs, increase liquidity and position Spirit to remain financially healthy while we move through a period of recovery in the commercial aviation market,” said Gentile. "Although this extraordinary time has required us to make difficult decisions, we remain focused on fulfilling requirements to our customers, including the important work we provide for defense and space programs," Gentile said. "I continue to remain confident in the future of the aviation industry, and in our ability to navigate through these challenges to emerge a stronger company."

Past stories on Spirit layoffs:

May 2020 - Spirit AeroSystems reducesemployment in Wichita as a result of lower demand

September 2013 - Spirit AeroSystems layoffs

July 2013 - 360 layoffs at SpiritAeroSystems

Spirit AeroSystems reduces employment in Wichita as a result of lower demand

Spirit AeroSystems announced Saturday it will reduce employment at sites supporting commercial programs as a result of lower demand for commercial airplanes. Spirit is a supplier to Airbus and Boeing, both of which announced lower production rates for commercial aircraft due to the impact of COVID-19 on the aviation industry.

"In addition to reducing employment, we are taking other initiatives to lower costs and preserve liquidity, which included raising $1.2 billion in high yield secured second lien bonds in April. We are focused on ensuring Spirit AeroSystems remains a healthy business and emerges from this crisis with a bright future,” said Tom Gentile, President and CEO, Spirit AeroSystems.

As part of the overall employment reductions, Spirit offered a voluntary layoff to union represented employees in Wichita, Kan. earlier this week. Today Spirit issued a notice to the State of Kansas under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of layoffs affecting approximately 1,450 hourly and salaried employees at its site in Wichita. Spirit's Wichita employees affected by these layoffs are expected to begin exiting the company May 15. Later this month, smaller reductions will occur at Spirit's remaining U.S. sites that perform commercial work. Spirit's global sites are reviewing workforce requirements and will announce their plans in the coming weeks.

As Spirit continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by changing its work practices to keep employees safe, the company is also working directly to contribute to the fight against COVID-19. Spirit has developed a partnership to manufacture medical devices in Wichita. Approximately 700 employees will be transferred to this temporary special project that is expected to last through October and may go longer, depending upon demand. Spirit will have more information to share on the medical device partnership in the near future.

Spirit's work on defense programs will not be impacted by these announced employment reductions and those operations will continue uninterrupted. Additionally, some employees currently supporting commercial programs may be transferred to available defense work, mitigating the number of employees who may be affected by these workforce actions.

ASX and Spirit AeroSystems aim to create all-electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft

Airspace Experience Technologies (ASX), an aviation technology start-up, and Spirit AeroSystems, a global aircraft design and manufacturing company, have signed a memorandum of understanding and a definitive agreement to cooperate on creation of an affordable, certified all-electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

"Our partnership with Spirit aims to deliver simple, safe and robust electric VTOL aircraft that are accessible to the mass traveling public,” said Jon Rimanelli, CEO and co-founder of ASX.

The path to delivering low-cost aircraft systems starts with engineering services, then parts fabrication, and finally system integration supporting the launch of ASX's all-electric eVTOL aircraft, the MOBi-One.