Production at Louisville Ford plant paused following fatal plane crash
Operations at Ford Motor Co.’s Louisville Assembly Plant have been paused Nov. 5 after a UPS plane crashed at the Muhammad Ali International Airport killing nine and injuring at least a dozen more people.
The plant, where Ford makes two types of vehicles and employs more than 3,000 Kentuckians, is located south of the airport, the UPS Flight Training Center and other Worldport buildings, roughly four miles from the main entrance to the airport.
In his Team Kentucky update Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Andy Beshear said the assembly plant could have been in the direct line of the crash, but was just narrowly missed. Two other businesses near the airport were directly impacted by the crash.
Power was shut off in the area Tuesday evening following the 5:20 p.m. crash, including for a substation that supplies the automaker’s plant with electricity.
Employees working at the plant Tuesday evening sheltered in place following emergency alerts and then were sent home, after the city issued a shelter-in-place order for areas directly around the airport.
Production did not resume Wednesday morning, and it’s unclear when the plant may restart operations. Beshear said he believes production at the plant could resume in the evening.
Daily vehicle output at the Louisville plant varies by type of car being made at any given time.
A Ford spokesperson confirmed the plant had paused operations following the crash, but did not provide additional information.
“Louisville Assembly Plant is not running for day shift because of the controlled power outage across the area,” said Ford Spokesperson Jessica Enoch in an email to the Herald-Leader.
Workers at the Louisville Assembly Plant are responsible for making the Ford Escape and Lincoln Cosair. Next year, the plant is expected to begin production of a new, midsize electric pickup truck following a $2 billion investment.
That will go toward expanding the plant and upgrading its digital infrastructure to support the automaker’s Universal EV Platform, a special assembly line intended to enable a family of affordable electric vehicles to be produced at scale.
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