Spirit AeroSystems today announced plans to expand its manufacturing operations in Subang, Malaysia, to accommodate increasing volumes of assembly work on aerostructure components for commercial airliners.

"We are excited to see our Malaysia site in a strong growth mode as we begin the process of adding capabilities that will allow us to better support the needs of our customers," said Scott McLarty, Spirit AeroSystems vice president and general manager, U.K. and Malaysia.

The company is in the architectural and engineering planning stages to add a 50,000 square-foot manufacturing facility adjacent to other buildings on its campus in the Malaysia International Aerospace Centre near Kuala Lumpur. Construction is set to begin in October with a target for operations to begin in mid-2018. Spirit expects to eventually add about 300 workers to the current site population of 700.