Burbank Aeronautical Furloughs 370

Burbank Aeronautical Corp. II, a manufacturing firm noted for hiring and training hundreds of welfare workers, has furloughed about 370 employees because of financial woes, its president said Wednesday.

The company, which makes noise-abatement equipment for airliners known as hush kits, could not afford to pay workers after a Miami-based airline customer missed payments on two kits it had ordered, company President Kenneth McGuire said.

McGuire, who declined to identify the customer, said the hush kits were valued at more than $2 million apiece.

Burbank Aeronautical hopes to recall all the furloughed workers by the end of June, he said. The company employs about 500 people.

“Nobody has been officially laid off,” he said, adding that the company is trying to line up several new contracts. “Presently, we believe that we will be hiring everybody back.”

Most of the employees who were furloughed came from welfare-training programs, McGuire said.

McGuire said Burbank Aeronautical intends to pay the workers as soon as it is reimbursed for the hush kits it has built. “We consider ourselves a very responsible employer,” he said.