Boeing to Close Wichita Plant

[Chickadee]

The Seattle Times:

Boeing shuttering Wichita plant, sending tanker work here

Boeing confirmed Wednesday that it will close its defense plant in Wichita, Kan., by the end of 2013, and will do final work on the Air Force tankers at its Puget Sound factories.

By Dominic Gates
Seattle Times aerospace reporter

Boeing confirmed Wednesday that it will close its defense plant in Wichita, Kan., by the end of 2013. The news, a body blow to aviation manufacturing in Kansas that had been rumored for weeks, was delivered directly to employees at an all-hands meeting.

The U.S. Air Force refueling tanker work that Boeing promised to Wichita during the intense competition for that contract will instead be done in its Puget Sound factories, the company said in a statement.

Winning the tanker contract a year ago was seen in Kansas as preserving Boeing Wichita's future. But the company has decided instead to install the military systems on the tankers near the assembly line where the airframes will be built in Everett.
It's unclear if that work will be done in Everett or Seattle, and Boeing has not said how many Puget Sound employees it may add as a result.

About 2,100 Wichita employees will lose their jobs, beginning "early in the third quarter of 2012," the company said.

Boeing blamed the closure on the maturing of government defense contracts and the winding down of programs.


Wichita will continue to be important to Boeing. The former commercial airplanes parts plant — now owned by Spirit AeroSystems — makes the fuselages for the 737, the nose-and-cockpit sections of all Boeing's jets including the 787 Dreamliner, and the engine casings and struts for all the jets except the Dreamliner.

Boeing said 24 Kansas companies will still be suppliers on the Air Force tanker program.

Yet Boeing's statement Wednesday that it "values its long-term partnership with Kansas, and we will continue to work ... in support of a robust aerospace industry in the state" will be no comfort to its employees as it prepares to exit the city that still calls itself the "Air Capital of the World."