Boeing supplier assesses damage after tornado hit

Major Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosystems remains shut down after a direct hit from tornado.

Spirit Aerosystems suffered some of the most significant damage from the tornado that hit Saturday outside Wichita, Kansas. The storm knocked down walls in its production plant and blew roofs from several buildings. The plant has no power, and workers are being told to stay home until at least Wednesday.

This has implications for production in Puget Sound since Spirit supplies completed 737 fuselages to the Renton plant and nose and cockpit pieces for all of Boeing’s wide-body planes assembled in Everett.

A Boeing spokesperson said that the company should know more about the potential impact to the supply chain late in the day on Monday, but it looks like most of the damage to the Spirit plant is to the buildings and not the contents inside. Boeing said the production equipment and airplane pieces inside appear to be OK.

But Spirit CEO Jeff Turner told reporters on Sunday it will be a while before normal operations can resume. A determination on that will likely have to wait until mid-week.

“We will then be able to tell when we open up different parts, and it won’t be the whole plant opening at once,” said Turner. “It’ll have to be kind of in stages.”