Longtime airline interior cabin manufacturer announces Bellingham layoffs
A longtime Bellingham manufacturer has announced to the state that it is laying off more than 200 workers.
Safran Cabin Bellingham, which makes overhead storage compartments and other interior products for the airline industry, submitted paperwork indicating that it is laying off 205 workers at its Barkley facility. The layoffs were to take effect on Thursday, April 23.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification did not indicate whether the layoffs were temporary while the state’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” restrictions were in place, or if this intended to be a permanent layoff. Safran did not immediately respond to an email sent Thursday afternoon.
According to its website, the Bellingham facility employs 475 people. It has 200,000 square feet of production space, which is about 40,000 square feet bigger than the Bellingham Costco.
The facility has been a fixture in Bellingham since 1990 under a variety of names, including Heath Tecna and Zodiac Aerospace. The Woburn Street manufacturer has experience an influx of hiring and layoffs over the years, depending on what is happening in the economy and particularly the airline industry. One of its key clients in recent years has been the Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation.
Safran Cabin has more than 13,000 employees and is a part of Safran S.A., a French multinational aircraft, space and defense company.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 3:50 PM.
