Boeing supplier furloughs 2,300 employees on closure of Boeing facilities amid COVID-19

(Reuters) – U.S. aero parts maker Triumph Group Inc said it was furloughing about 2,300 employees across its U.S. and European plants for two to four weeks to cut capacity linked to Boeing commercial aircraft programs amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The company will give one week of pay and will cover the employee share of medical premiums during the furlough period, it said in a statement on Friday.

Triumph Group also said it will cut about 200 full-time positions due to fall in demand, adding that the reductions will be completed by May 1.

This week, Boeing suspended production of its 787 airplane at its facilities in South Carolina and indefinitely extended a halt in its production operations at its Washington state facilities.

Triumph Group, a Boeing supplier, cited the closures as the reasons for its steps to furlough employees.

Boeing, the largest U.S. planemaker, itself asked last month for at least $60 billion in U.S. government loan guarantees for itself and other American aerospace manufacturers to help the embattled industry withstand a coronavirus-related cash drain.

The outbreak has further compounded an already existing crisis over the year-old grounding of Boeing’s previously fast-selling 737 MAX jet after two fatal crashes.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)