Boeing Names 14 Companies 2009 Suppliers of the Year

EVERETT, Wash., Sept. 27, 2010 — The Boeing Company today announced that the state of Washington will benefit from an estimated 11,000 total jobs and generate an estimated $693 million in annual economic impact if the Boeing NewGen Tanker is selected as the U.S. Air Force’s next aerial refueling aircraft.

Boeing submitted its proposal July 9 to replace 179 of the Air Force’s 400 Eisenhower-era KC-135 aircraft. The Air Force is expected to award a contract later this year.

"The Boeing team in Washington state has an outstanding track record meeting the needs of U.S. warfighters by delivering the finest military derivatives of commercial aircraft in the world," said Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. "I am confident that the thousands of men and women at Boeing and our suppliers working on the NewGen Tanker will carry on that same tradition of excellence for many years to come."

"One of the great strengths of Boeing is our unique ability to form teams made up of both commercial and defense personnel to find innovative and best-value solutions for our customers," said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "Nowhere is this more apparent than here in Puget Sound, where we have been supporting both commercial and military customers for nearly 100 years."

Currently, Boeing has 72,000 employees in Washington and works with more than 2,700 suppliers/vendors, delivering a total $3.3 billion in annual economic impact.

The NewGen Tanker is a widebody, multi-mission aircraft based on the proven Boeing 767 commercial airplane and updated with the latest and most advanced technology. Capable of fulfilling the Air Force’s needs for transport of fuel, cargo, passengers and patients, the combat-ready NewGen Tanker will meet or exceed the 372 mandatory requirements described in the service’s final KC-X Request for Proposal released Feb. 24.

The NewGen Tanker will be made with a low-risk approach to manufacturing that relies on existing Boeing facilities in Washington state and Kansas as well as U.S. suppliers throughout the nation, with decades of experience delivering dependable military tanker and derivative aircraft. Nationwide, the NewGen Tanker program will support approximately 50,000 total U.S. jobs with Boeing and more than 800 suppliers in more than 40 states.

The Boeing NewGen Tanker also will be more cost-effective to own and operate than a larger, heavier tanker. It will save American taxpayers more than $10 billion in fuel costs over its 40-year service life because it burns 24 percent less fuel than the competitor’s airplane.

Boeing has been designing, building, modifying and supporting tankers for decades. These include the KC-135 that will be replaced in the KC-X competition, and the KC-10 fleet. The company also has delivered four KC-767Js to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and is on contract to deliver four KC-767As to the Italian Air Force.

The Boeing Aerial Refueling Technology demonstrator (BART) will be on display at Westlake Park (401 Pine St.) in Seattle on Sept. 28 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. BART’s tour schedule is available at www.UnitedStatesTanker.com/TankerTrek. More information on Boeing’s NewGen Tanker, including video clips and an interactive tour of the aircraft, is available at www.UnitedStatesTanker.com. For more information on joining the company’s efforts, visit www.RealAmericanTankers.com.

CHICAGO, March 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Boeing issued the following statement following news reports quoting officials who indicated that the United States has prevailed on all of the major issues in the WTO’s final decision, which reaffirms its earlier interim decision, in the U.S. case against European subsidies to Airbus.

“This is a powerful, landmark judgment and good news for aerospace workers across America who for decades have had to compete against a heavily subsidized Airbus. U.S. officials have estimated the commercial value to Airbus of all the government launch aid subsidies it has received at more than $178 billion (in 2006 dollars). Government subsidies have been used to support the creation of every Airbus product, including the A330/A340, which received more than $5 billion in development aid, and the A380, which received $4 billion in subsidies. Those and other European government subsidies to Airbus have significantly distorted the global market for large commercial airplanes, causing adverse effect to Boeing and costing America tens of thousands of high-tech jobs.

“We appreciate the strong bipartisan efforts by both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government to right this wrong and ensure that America’s aerospace workers get a fair shake. Because of the U.S. government’s undiminished resolve to end illegal subsidies, this decision should level the competitive playing field once and for all with Airbus, as well as set an important precedent for other nations with aspirations to enter the commercial airplane business.

“Airbus and its sponsor governments continue to re-affirm their commitment to using subsidized launch aid to fund the next Airbus airplane, the A350. We urge them to change course and fully comply with the WTO’s clear ruling. The WTO panel has painstakingly and professionally reviewed all of the evidence that’s been presented the past four years. It is extremely important to international trade and global economic growth that governments and businesses abide by the WTO’s rules. Markets, not parliaments, should pick the winners in the global aerospace industry.”

Contact:
Charlie Miller, +44-7802-399-622
John Dern, 312-285-3754
SOURCE Boeing