Wichita’s Boeing loss is Oklahoma City’s gain

OKLAHOMA CITY On a sun-soaked morning in Oklahoma City, construction workers were busy working on a new six-story office building for Boeing as the company expands its presence into a second building.

While crews worked, planes took off from the sprawling Tinker Air Force Base just across the street.

Boeings expansion in Oklahoma will make room for the Boeing B-1 Lancer and C-130 Hercules programs moving from Long Beach, Calif.

Its also needed as Boeing closes its historic Wichita facilities and moves engineering and program management work to the site. The move will bring 800 to 900 jobs to Oklahoma City and boost employment to 2,000.

Wichitas military maintenance and modification work will move to San Antonio.

And work on Boeings Air Force tanker program slated for Wichita will now go to Puget Sound in Washington state instead.

Boeing announced in January that it will close its Wichita facilities in 2013. It cited high overhead costs, waning work and, facing looming defense budget cuts, little hope of bringing more work in, officials said.

This wasnt about labor costs, said Boeing spokesman Forrest Gossett. This was about this massive structure we have (in Wichita).

The transfer of work to Oklahoma City is scheduled to begin this fall.

It will be the end of 2013 before the Wichita site, which employs 2,160 people, will close completely.

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Wichita’s Boeing loss is Oklahoma City’s gain