Boeing chief executive officer Kelly Ortberg gave assurances during a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday that the company would continue to look for more work opportunities in Kansas with its acquisition of Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita.
Ortberg made the comments to Kansas Senator Jerry Moran, chair of the Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space and Innovation. Moran had stated that “It was indicated to me that without the acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems the new generation of any aircraft developed by Boeing would not involve work in Wichita or work in Kansas. With the acquisition, the statement was made that the work could more likely occur in Kansas. You are going to build a new aircraft someday, what’s the plan for where that work will take place?”
Ortberg responded by saying, “Let me just assure you that Spirit AeroSystems and the work we do in Kansas is critically important. We are spending a significant amount of our capital to acquire that company, and we are not going to do that and move work out of Kansas. The work that we are doing there is going to stay there. In fact, I am very hopeful that once we get the acquisition closed, we will find opportunities to do actually even more work.”
Boeing’s acquisition of Spirit is expected to be finalized this year.
