Aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing has also been hit by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The company made an official announcement on April 6, 2020 that it is all set to suspend the production of the 787 Dreamliner aircrafts in South Carolina because of the pandemic . The recent move has put on hold the production of commercial aircrafts. The recent announcement by Boeing came after governor of South Carolina Henry McMaster has ordered the residents to stay at home and step out only for buying some essential goods or visiting family.
On April 5, 2020, Boeing had said that it will certainly extend the shutdown indefinitely of the commercial airplane factories in Seattle area, which is the native for its production. The factory was shut down as about 100 of its employees were infected of the virus. Boeing has about 160,000 employees and said that the staff members who cannot work remotely will be paid for about 10 days of work and that they will be free to file for unemployment to get its benefits or could also use paid time off. The company added that the benefits would continue as normal at the time of pause.
Coronavirus has become the latest challenge for the company, which was already struggling after two fatal crashes of the 737 Max aircrafts. Moreover, the pandemic has brought down the travel demand to a dramatic level. The airline clients of Boeing are also one by one decommissioning its fleet due to the lack of travel demand. The current situation has put up a challenge in front of Boeing as well as its rival Airbus as the demand for aircrafts is going to deteriorate further.
The 787 planes by Boeing are being used on some of the longest routes but now the demand is going to be affected as most of the long haul international flights are suspended due to the travel restrictions imposed across the globe.
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