Air Force awards $35 billion tanker contract to Boeing

SEATTLE — The U.S. Air Force on Thursday chose Boeing Co. to build its new fleet of aerial refueling tankers, news met with delight, rejoicing — and some outright astonishment — by Washington state aircraft workers and politicians.

The $35 billion contract is a major boost not just to the company but to the ailing economies in the Puget Sound area and in Wichita, Kan., where the planes will be built and modified.

Boeing will base the tankers on its 767 widebody jetliner, which is assembled at its massive Everett, Wash., plant. The contract initially calls for 179 of the planes, extending work for the 767 line for years.

At Everett, Boeing workers who had gathered around TVs and computer screens in the factory shook hands and high-fived when the news came across, said worker Steve Morrison.

"You could hear little blocks of cheers throughout the factory," he said.

Outside the plant, car horns blared during shift change.

"Today was a good day," said overhead crane operator Todd Campbell.

Boeing said the contract would support approximately 50,000 total U.S. jobs with Boeing and more than 800 suppliers in more than 40 states. For Washington state alone, Boeing has said it would mean 11,000 jobs and $693 million in annual economic benefits.

"We are absolutely delighted, obviously," said Bill Dugovitch, spokesman for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, the union for Boeing's engineers and technical workers. "Our work force is ready to go to produce the world's best tankers."

After 10 years of battling with the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. for the deal and enduring repeated setbacks, many in Washington state were braced for the worst. No big rallies or other events were timed for the announcement, and union halls were quiet on a day when snow buried much of the state.

When the announcement was made, the office of Congressman Jay Inslee, D-Wash., sent out a quickly corrected news release beginning, "Rep. Jay Inslee on tanker, 'Decision Will Not Stand.'"

Boeing machinist Jason Redrup said he was riding with friends in his car when he heard Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., say Boeing had won.

"Frankly, I didn't believe it when he said it," Redrup said, adding that a companion told him, "Well, we better wait until we hear from the Air Force."

SPEEA President Tom McCarty said at a hastily called news conference that everyone he had talked to assumed the news would be bad. He also was in his car when the announcement came, and "I almost ran off the road when I heard it."

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who along with nearly every other political leader in the state had lobbied heavily for years for the contract, said the possibility of losing it "weighed on us heavily."

Instead, "This decision is a major victory for the American workers, the American aerospace industry and America's military. And it is consistent with the president's own call to 'out-innovate' and 'out-build' the rest of the world," she said.

"In the end we put America to work, in the end our men and women in uniform get the best product," said Gov. Chris Gregoire, who added that she stood up and cheered when she heard the news.

EADS had planned to assemble its tankers, based on an Airbus jetliner, in Mobile, Ala.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and other leaders gathered in Mobile for the announcement said it was a sad day for the state. A crowd gathered to watch the Pentagon announcement fell silent at the decision.

Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts said the award means 7,500 new jobs for his state "at a time when the aviation industry and our nation needs them the most." The economic impact to Kansas is an estimated $388 million, he said.

"This is good for America. This is good for our community. What more can we ask for?" said Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, a former Boeing engineer.

"This is gonna boost some morale — particularly for those Boeing workers out there and those that have been out of work for a while," he said.

The new jets will replace the Air Force's aging fleet of KC-135 tankers — another Boeing plane — many of which date to the Eisenhower era.