Aerospace Supplier Safran Closing Washington Plants for Two Weeks

Aircraft interiors company Safran Cabin is suspending production for two weeks starting Thursday at sites in Bellingham, Marysville and Newport, Pend Oreille county, that employ about 1,500.

All three sites were formerly part of Zodiac, which was acquired by French aerospace manufacturing giant Safran in 2017. Production will resume April 10 after a thorough cleaning of the sites, the company said.

The Marysville facility employs about 750 people. It specializes in fabrication and assembly of composite structures for interiors of passenger aircraft, as well as the KC-767 refueling tanker interior and V-22 Osprey ramps doors for the military.

The Bellingham facility employs about 475 people making overhead stowage compartments, ceiling panels, sidewalls, class dividers and interior monuments.

Safran’s Newport unit produces a range of materials used to build interior structures, including honeycomb core, adhesives and semi finished panels.

This unit actually consists of two facilities. One is in Newport, Wash., on the border with Idaho, and employs about 105 people. The other is across the state in Marysville, with about 180 employees.

Safran’s spokesman in France, in an email, did not say whether employees will be paid during the production suspension. Reached by phone at the main Marysville facility, Safran’s Human Resources Manager Shelly Rasmussen and operations manager Zachary Roy declined to answer any questions.

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