WICHITA – A Wichita-area Congressman said he’s been told by a Boeing official that work on a new Air Force tanker won’t be done in Kansas. The Wichita Eagle reported that U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo said that Boeing intends to ignore promises made to Kansas that modification work on the new tankers would be done at Boeing’s Wichita plant. That not only means at least 7,500 new jobs wouldn’t be created, but Pompeo said Wichita would lose more than 2,000 aviation jobs. Boeing said last month it was studying whether to close the Wichita facility, which infuriated Kansas politicians who had helped push the Defense Department to award the refueling contract to Boeing and away from Airbus. State officials fear that moving the refueling tanker work would be the first step to closing the plant. Closing the plant would devastate the Wichita and Kansas economy.
Wednesday, Dec. 21, 10 p.m.
