posted on May 06, 2011 00:38
Boeing’s Global Services & Support business unit in San Antonio has been selected to receive five 747-8 Freighters used in the airplane manufacturer’s flight test program.
The San Antonio operations will perform refurbishment work on the planes beginning in the first half of 2011. The work is expected to last about a year.
Wendy Parker, spokeswoman for Boeing, says the reason San Antonio was selected is that the Boeing site that was originally chosen (in Everett, Wash.) lacked the physical capacity to accommodate the 747-8 refurbishment.
“Boeing San Antonio is a great location for this commercial work. We have the capacity and the workforce here has established an outstanding performance record,” Parker says.
This work, Parker says, is in addition to the 787 Dreamliner modification and refurbishment work that was received last month.
Combined, the 787 and 747-8 Freighter commercial work is expected to create over 800 new jobs in San Antonio. Boeing announced last month that it would be hiring 450 people to work on the 787 Dreamliner.
Boeing’s Global Services & Support business unit presently has 1,800 full-time employees at its 150-acre facility site at Port San Antonio — former home of Kelly Air Force Base. The local operation is owned by Chicago-based The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA).
4/18/11, San Antonio Business Journal, Tamarind Phinisee