Alabama to look for tanker workforce
Published 9:33 am Saturday, March 1, 2008
Quotable:“We are very proud to have won a victory on the American market over Boeing,” Louis Gallois, EADS chief executive, told France Info radio on Saturday.
For more from Gallois, read DW-World’s story or Reuters report.
What a way to start your day … It’s the morning after the Pentagon delivered a shock to the Boeing Co. – the Air Force opted for a Northrop Grumman-EADS tanker over the Everett-built KC-767.
This Saturday morning the sky, a normal shade of gray here in the Puget Sound region, hasn’t fallen. But there’s a fair amount of disappointment lingering around the area.
That’s not the case in Alabama, where the Northrop-EADS’ KC-30 will be built. The Press Register’s editorial cartoonist got in a jab at Boeing’s KC-767, which is smaller than KC-30.
The next step for Mobile? Find and train a workforce to build Northrop-EADS’ tanker, which is based off an Airbus A330 jet. That can’t sit too well with Machinists in Everett, who say they could start building Boeing’s tanker today.
Washington and Alabama weren’t the only states with something to win or lose out of the Air Force’s multi-billion dollar contract supplying 179 tankers.
Boeing workers in Wichita also lost out with the Northrop win. Employees there would have installed military applications on the KC-767. Kansas would have seen about 3,800 jobs from the Boeing tanker.
Members of Kansas political leaders took the Boeing loss about as well as Washington’s politicians. Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer called the Air Force’s decision “inexplicable” and told the Wichita Eagle:
“I am outraged to learn of the U.S. Air Force’s decision to bypass an American company to award the KC-X Tanker contract to a French company that has no experience building tankers.”
From Utah’s Salt Lake Tribune:
“It’s just an enormous blow really to Utah, especially in this downturn in this economy. It’s also a blow to what we believe about America and competing in this world.” — Randy Horiuchi, a Salt Lake County Council member.
Utah would have got 600 jobs and $22 million in economic impact from the KC-767.
From Connecticut’s Hartford Courant:
“We are disappointed by the USAF’s selection for the Tanker KC-X program. Pratt &Whitney feels the KC-767 with PW4000 power met all requirements for the KC-X tanker recapitalization project.” — Pratt &Whitney’s prepared statement.
Europe also reacted to the news of an EADS win.
From the UK:
“The UK – both in North Wales and Bristol – will play a vital part in the manufacture of these aircraft for the US air force.
“The massive contract will secure a number of years of work for the UK industry – benefiting not just Airbus UK, but also many other UK suppliers.” — Business Secretary John Hutton.
