Pompeo Says Boeing Will Not Finish Tanker In Wichita

Mon, December 19, 2011

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Updated 12/19/11 3:18 p.m.

AP / Roxana Hegeman

Boeing says it’s still reviewing its Wichita operations and won’t make an announcement about any work moving elsewhere until late this year or early next year.

That comes after U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo said Monday that a senior Boeing Co, official told him the modification work on the Air Force refueling tankers will be done its plant in Washington state rather than Kansas. He wouldn’t name the official.

Boeing spokesman Jarrod Bartlett said the review is ongoing and involves all Wichita programs, not just tankers. The company said last month it was studying whether to close the facility, which has 2,100 employees and specializes in modifying commercial aircraft for military or government operations.

Officials have said the $35 billion tanker project would create 7,500 direct and indirect jobs in Kansas.

KMUW / Fletcher Powell

U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo said The Boeing Company has no intention of completing its KC-46A Air Force tanker in Wichita. Pompeo held a news conference Monday morning at Wichita’s National Center for Aviation Training.

The airplane manufacturer originally said it planned to use its Wichita facility as the finishing center for the tanker, but Pompeo said he was told by a senior Boeing official that the city is no longer in Boeing’s plans.

“We now know that Boeing intends to walk away from that promise, which severely jeopardizes the future of over 2,000 aviation jobs right here in our community,” Pompeo said.

Boeing was awarded the deal in February to build the refueling tanker, one of the largest military contracts in history. Kansas officials had expected the agreement to bring 7,500 jobs to the state, many of them at Boeing’s Wichita plant. Pompeo said he was told the tanker would now be finished in Washington state.