President Trump says Boeing will need ‘help’ from virus impact

President Donald Trump said Monday that Boeing Co. will need government “help” amid the economic slowdown stemming from the coronavirus crisis that has hit the travel industry.

“Boeing’s going to need some help,” Trump said at a White House news conference on Monday. “Obviously the airlines are going to have a problem, but the airlines aren’t going to be buying from Boeing or anybody else right now because of this difficulty.”

The planemaker announced Monday that it is shutting its Seattle-area manufacturing hub for two weeks after a worker died of coronavirus complications, adding to a wave of plant closings sweeping the globe as the aviation industry navigates the biggest disruption in decades.

Activity at the factories will start winding down now and come to a halt March 25, Boeing said in a statement Monday. The company will conduct deep cleaning at the facilities, which range from a wide-body plant in Everett, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Seattle, to parts-fabrication plants south of the city. Workers will receive 10 days of paid leave.

The aerospace giant is pausing operations as the Covid-19 pandemic upends the airline industry and threatens the health of the planemaker’s own workers in the Seattle area, a hot spot of the outbreak. Boeing is also assessing the health and safety of workers at its 787 Dreamliner plant in South Carolina, the company’s last jetliner factory to remain in operation.