Zodiac Aerospace restarts Newport plant following explosion

NEWPORT — Zodiac Aerospace’s Newport plant is getting back to work three weeks after an explosion injured five and shut the facility down, the company said Friday.

“This week, all the Newport employees were back at work, except for a few still recovering from injuries,” the company said in a press release.

The production line damaged by the July 14 explosion is still down.

The plant resumed making glue, adhesives and resins earlier this week.

Those products are used to make jetliner components out of advanced composite and engineered materials at the facility, which employs about 100 people. The components are used in the interiors of Boeing and Airbus planes.

The company said it expects to restart composite material panel production early next week. For now, it is doing that work at its Marysville facility.

“All in all, these actions result in rebuilding a production capacity similar to the one before the accident,” the company said.

The French-based company’s crisis management team is monitoring the situation to minimize any effect on customers.

Zodiac Aerospace is cooperating with authorities investigating the explosion’s cause, as well as conducting its own internal enquiry, the release said.

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.

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