Coronavirus brings Boeing's US airplane production to a halt - CNBC

Boeing Dreamliner 787 Air China planes sit on the production line at the company's final assembly facility in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Travis Dove | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Boeing on Monday said it will suspend production of 787 Dreamliner planes in South Carolina because of the coronavirus pandemic, a move that puts all of the manufacturer's production of commercial airplanes on hold.

The announcement came after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster ordered most residents to stay at home except for certain activities such as buying essential goods or visiting family.

Boeing on Sunday said it will indefinitely extend a shutdown of commercial airplane factories in the Seattle area — home to the bulk of its production — because of the virus, which has infected around 100 of the company's employees, according to a spokesman. Boeing employs about 160,000 people.

Boeing said staff that cannot work remotely will be paid for 10 days of work and that they can file for unemployment benefits or use paid time off, the company said, adding that benefits will continue "as normal" during the pause. The company South Carolina operation, which makes the wide-body Dreamliner jets, Boeing said.

Coronavirus is a new crisis for the manufacturer that was already struggling with the fallout from two fatal crashes of its 737 Max planes. The pandemic has devastated air travel demand and Boeing's airline customers are parking hundreds of planes and deferring orders of others, setting up Boeing and its European rival Airbus for months of weak demand.

"It is our commitment to focus on the health and safety of our teammates while assessing the spread of the virus across the state, its impact on the reliability of our global supply chain and that ripple effect on the 787 program," Brad Zaback, general manager of the 787 program, said in a release.

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2020-04-06 21:45:24Z
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