Boeing to suspend Seattle-area production for two weeks

Pittsburgh — Boeing will temporarily suspend production at its Puget Sound area production facilities in light of the state of emergency in Washington state as a result of coronavirus, the company said Monday.

"Boeing plans to begin reducing production activity today and projects the suspension of such operations to begin on Wednesday, March 25, at sites across the Puget Sound area," Boeing said in a statement. The suspension of production is currently scheduled to last 14 days, the company said.

"Boeing will continue to monitor government guidance and actions on COVID-19 and its associated impacts on all company operations," the company said. "During this time, we will be conducting additional deep cleaning activities at impacted sites and establishing rigorous criteria for return to work."

The US had 33,404 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 and 400 deaths from the virus as of Sunday, according to the most recent data from the Center for Disease Control.

"When the suspension is lifted, Boeing will take an orderly approach to restarting production with a focus on safety, quality and meeting customer commitments," the company said. "This will be a key step to enabling the aerospace sector to bridge to recovery."