By Roxana Hegeman

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- The Boeing Co., for decades the brand that helped
support Wichita's claim as the aviation capital of the world, announced
Wednesday it will shut down facilities in the city by the end of 2013 and send
work to plants in three other states as it deals with defense spending
cutbacks.

The closure will cost 2,160 workers their jobs and end the firm's presence in
an area where it has been a major employer for generations.

The decision was not a surprise because Boeing said in November it was
looking at closing the Wichita plant. But it still drew an angry response from
Kansas lawmakers who helped Boeing land a lucrative Air Force refueling tanker
project in February and had expected thousands of jobs to come to Wichita with
it. Instead, the tanker work will go to Boeing's facilities near Seattle.

"Boeing's announcement is that things have changed," U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran
said. "Well, the only thing that really has changed in my mind in the last year
is Boeing now has the contract. When they made the commitments, they
didn't."

Mark Bass, a Boeing vice president, said the market for defense work has
changed dramatically in the past 18 months and the Wichita facility wasn't
competitive because of its size and high labor costs. The site includes 97
buildings with 2 million square feet.

Bass declined to say how much the company expected to save by moving the work
elsewhere.

Wichita had hoped the number of jobs at the facility would grow after Boeing
won the contract worth at least $35 billion to build 179 Air Force refueling
tankers. Modification work on the planes was expected to generate 7,500 direct
and indirect jobs with an overall economic impact of nearly $390 million.

Boeing said 24 Kansas-based suppliers for the refueling tanker project will
still provide parts as planned.

The first layoffs in Wichita are expected in the second half of 2012. While
the Seattle area will build the tankers and handle their modifications,
engineering work will move to Oklahoma City and future aircraft maintenance,
modification and support will go to San Antonio, Texas.

The three states combined could pick up as many as 1,400 jobs, with Oklahoma
City gaining 800 and San Antonio getting 300 to 400. The Seattle area will add
200 tanker construction jobs but about 100 support positions from there will
move to Oklahoma City in the shuffle, Bass said. Wichita workers will be allowed
to apply for jobs in the other locations.

Boeing said it will continue to have a significant impact on the Kansas
economy and its aerospace industry. The Chicago-based company spent more than
$3.2 billion with 475 Kansas suppliers last year. Kansas is the fourth largest
state in its supplier network.

But that wasn't enough for lawmakers like U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas,
who said Boeing had promised as recently as February to remain in Wichita if it
received the tanker contract. Roberts and others urged the company to
reconsider.

Moran called Boeing's move "a blow to our mental health as well as our
pocketbooks." Kansas officials are still willing to do what it takes to keep the
Boeing plant open, but "it's difficult to negotiate with someone who hasn't kept
their word," he said.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback promised Kansas will pursue opportunities in
commercial aircraft manufacturing. Aircraft makers like Cessna Aircraft Co.,
Hawker Beechcraft and Bombardier still have plants in Wichita, which Brownback
said remains "the best place in the world to build airplanes."

Kansas Democratic Party chair Joan Wagnon said the decision shows that
throwing money at wealthy corporations doesn't guarantee loyalty or
longevity.

"Despite all the economic incentives and tax breaks, of which there were
many, and despite the loyalty of Boeing's workers and its long history in
Kansas, Boeing turned its back on a community and a state that supported the
corporation generously through tough times," Wagnon said.

But the news was welcomed elsewhere.

"The decision of the Boeing Company to move tanker work to Washington is
bitter-sweet," said Everett Mayor Ray Stephenson, noting Wichita Mayor Carl
Brewer's support for an American-made tanker. "I was grateful for his support
and am saddened for the workers and families in Wichita. That said, Everett
stands ready to support additional aerospace work in the Puget Sound
region."

Brewer, who once worked for Boeing, said the disappointment in Boeing's
decision to abandon its 80-year relationship with Wichita and Kansas "will not
diminish anytime soon." The city, county and state have invested too many
taxpayer dollars in Boeing to take the announcement lightly, he said.

Boeing has had a facility in Wichita since it bought the Stearman Aircraft
Co. in 1929.

Employment at the plant peaked during World War II, when its 40,000 workers
included President Barack Obama's grandmother Madelyn Dunham, who worked the
night shift as a supervisor on the B-29 bomber assembly line.

The company remained Wichita's largest employer for decades after the
war.

It still had about 15,000 workers in the city in 2005, when it spun off its
commercial aircraft operations in Kansas and Oklahoma. After the divestiture,
Boeing kept 4,500 workers for its defense work in Wichita but layoffs have since
slashed that number.

Spirit AeroSystems, which took over Boeing's commercial aircraft operations,
still makes parts for Boeing in Wichita.

Jeremy Hill, director of Wichita State University's Center for Economic
Development and Business Research, said most Boeing workers are likely to stay
in the area and find other jobs. But the company's departure is a psychological
blow.

"It was something that was very important to people here, something they
recognized, something they would tell other people when they came and visited,"
Hill said. "Boeing has that name that's household and recognized, and it had a
value to people when they promote the area."