Boeing may close Spokane plant next year

Associated Press

SPOKANE — The Boeing Co.’s plant here could become a victim of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which caused a downturn in the aviation industry.

Boeing officials will decide in February whether to close, sell or keep running the plant, which employs 550 people west of Spokane, plant manager Sue Grimm said.

"The mood out here is very somber," she said Monday. "It sure comes as a surprise."

The move is a response to airplane sales lost since the terrorist attacks, Grimm said.

"Because of that, the company is having to look at ways of reducing assets and asking, ‘What do we need to be doing?’ " Grimm said.

The plant makes floor panels and air ducts for Boeing planes. Rich Hadley, Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce president, said the plant contributes an estimated $85 million a year to the Spokane area’s economy.

Grimm said it is difficult to measure the plant’s value to Boeing, which announced earlier that it intends to lay off 30,000 employees because of the downturn in sales after the terrorism attacks.

"We’re a cost center," Grimm said. "We don’t know what value we add. What we do know is when you compare us to the market, we’re competitive on floor panels. On the duct side, it is a little less favorable."

Once a study team’s findings are announced in February, the company is expected to act quickly. Executives want any recommendations to be carried out by the end of next year, Grimm said.

Earlier this year, the company transferred its air-duct manufacturing operation from the commercial airplane division’s Auburn plant to Spokane, a business deal worth $9 million.

Spokane economic development officials said they will lobby Boeing to keep the plant.

"We need to make a business case for Boeing to stay — and a regional case," Hadley said. "And we need to look at the political side to this with our delegation and make sure that we maintain the economic strength of Eastern Washington."