Boeing continues to struggle with the company now deciding to reassign 3,000 workers to other jobs as it halts production of its grounded 737 Max from mid-January. Most of these employees work in the company's Renton facility in Washington where its prized 737 Max aircrafts are manufactured. A few other employees belong to its factory in South Carolina.
Boeing has been struggling for months and now with airline companies queuing up for compensation packages, the company's worries are only multiplying. Boeing's decision to shift the employees to other jobs makes it evident that the company is fast losing hope of the return of the grounded 737 Max aircraft to service anytime soon.
Boeing reshuffles workers
Boeing sent an e-mail to its employees saying that it will reassign them other jobs. Most of the employees belong to the aircraft maker's operations in the Renton, Washington and South Carolina facilities. Both the facilities manufacture 737 Max aircrafts. Of the 3,000 employees the company has decided to reassign other jobs, most are form manufacturing, fabrication and engineering departments.
Majority of these employees will be reassigned to work on Boeing other two aircrafts 767 and 777/777X aircrafts, which are made in its Evert facility in Washington. The only good news for the employees of the bleeding aircraft maker is that the company has said that it doesn't intend to go for a layoff owing to the halt in the production of the 737 Max.
Compensation burden increases worries
Boeing's decision to reassign 3,000 employees comes days after American Airlines Group and Mexican carrier Aeromexico struck compensation deals with the aircraft maker over losses incurred owing to the grounding of 737 Max aircrafts. Boeing's best-selling model 737 Max has been grounded since March 2019, following two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people.
Meanwhile, a number of airline companies have been trying to initiate talks for compensation owing to the ground of aircraft. Earlier, Southwest Airlines too reached a compensation deal with Boeing. It is quite evident that pressure is mounting on Boeing with company on one hand not sure about the exact time of return of the aircraft to service and on the other hand an increasing number of airline companies pushing Boeing to agree to a compensation deal.
The Federal Aviation Administration in December made it clear that it is not going to come under Boeing's pressure and will take its own time to review the grounded aircraft. This may now be pushed till February and even March. This has further escalated the crisis with airline companies cancelling all 737 Max flights.
