Bombardier expanding in Wichita, Kansas as Boeing shuts down

Bombardier Learjet 85 is scheduled to enter service in 2013.

Bombardier Business Aircraft is expanding its Learjet facility in Wichita, Kansas. The growth of the site includes the expansion of the Bombardier Flight Test Center, the establishment of a Bombardier Center of Excellence of Engineering and Information Technology, new facilities for paint and production flight test as well as a new delivery center. The expansion will also help create 450 new jobs over the course of seven to 10 years.

The expansion is being supported by an incentive offer worth $16 million in financial support from the State of Kansas, which will be added to the $600 million investment Bombardier is currently making to develop the Learjet 85 midsize jet and to expand Learjet's Wichita facility.

Wichita calls itself the “air capital of the world,” and is home to manufacturing plants for Cessna Aircraft, Bombardier Aerospace, Hawker Beechcraft, The Boeing Co. and Spirit AeroSystems, as well as more than a hundred smaller aircraft parts suppliers. Last week Boeing announced it would close its Wichita defense site, which employs 2,160 workers, by the end of 2013.

Bombardier Aerospace’s new Learjet 85 midsize jet, launched on October 30, 2007, is on schedule for entry into service in 2013.