Learjet’s Planned Expansion Bright Spot In Wichita Aviation

Wed, January 11, 2012

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KMUW / Carla Eckels

Bombardier Learjet announced Tuesday further expansion of the Learjet Wichita site and workforce. KMUW’s Carla Eckels reports Gov. Brownback and other state and local officials who joined Bombardier in making the announcement, welcomed the news after Boeing’s recent decision to leave Wichita.

The aircraft company’s expansion includes their Flight Test Center, new facilities for paint and production flight tests, as well as a new delivery center. Also the establishment a Bombardier Center of Excellence of Engineering and Information Technology, The expansion will also create 450 new jobs over the next seven to 10 years.

Steve Ridolfi, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft says he was surprised to hear of Boeing’s departure by the end of next year, but he says he wants Learjet to be able to benefit from experienced workers that will still be in the area.

“We know we have to grow,” says Ridolfi. “We know we have to grow this site by a thousand employees over the next little while, 600 plus the 450 that we talked about. We need skilled employees, so to us that is a big piece of our decision. Quite frankly, the Boeing decision didn’t give us pause. It was a surprise. It was kind of for us it was kind of advantageous.”

Gov. Brownback is pleased with the strong commitment of Bombardier, which he says will lead to further opportunities and growth. Brownback welcomed the news less than a week after Boeing’s announcement to close its Wichita facility.

“We’ll, I like playing offense rather than defense and I didn’t care for that last week, but that’s not over,” says Brownback. “That’s a nice big facility there and I think you’re going to see aircraft built in a good portion of that facility. We’re working on that. We’re talking with everybody and we’re going to talk with everybody, and I think you’re going to see us continue to grow and this is just step one after some disappointing news last week.”
Bombardier Learjet’s expansion is being supported by $16 million dollars of incentives from the State of Kansas, which will be added to Bombardier’s $600 million investment to develop the Learjet 85 midsize jet and expand the Wichita facility.