Last aircraft manufacturing plant in California may close

No one seems to know for sure, but there is great concern that California might be losing its last aircraft manufacturer. The C-17 is a huge cargo plane designed to transport large equipment, supplies and troops directly to small airfields anywhere in the world. About 5,500 people are directly employed building the C-17 in Boeing’s Long Beach assembly line at an average pay of $65,000 per year, and a roughly equal number are employed by suppliers throughout the area. Because of a lack of orders for new C-17s, Boeing is planning significant work-force reductions starting early next year.

Boeing notified C-17 suppliers Friday that it will stop ordering new parts as it prepares to possibly end production of the plane. The company says it needs more orders to keep the assembly line going but the Defense Department did not request any new C-17s under its proposed fiscal 2008 budget. Boeing has threatened to end production before- possibly as a way to pressure the Military into ordering more planes. Analysts say orders for about 12 planes a year are needed to justify production of the plane.

According to the Long Beach Press Telegram the threat of losing the program is becoming an annual tradition. “We go through these budget machinations every year,” said Mayor Bob Foster. Robert Swayze, economic director for Long Beach said “It would be a real hit to the Long Beach economy and the regional economy”. Others were concerned about losing an entire industry- possibly forever, “This is the last production line where you are assembling an aircraft here,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. “There are no more commercial aircraft made here, and this is the last military aircraft. “In terms of a flying machine, this is it. And once it’s gone, it’s gone. You start to lose your skilled workforce, you lose your supplier network.”