Boeing

Boeing Australia Limited announced today that it intends to relocate its North Ryde, Sydney headquarters to Brisbane, following extensive negotiations with the Queensland government.

David Gray, Boeing Australia managing director, said the move followed plans revealed earlier this year for Boeing to expand its operations in Australia and target regional opportunities. Gray said it also "allows us to consolidate a range of activities which we could not do elsewhere."

"We have made no secret over the last few months that we intended to move. To that end we have had a number of discussions with the governments of Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Queensland.

"In an effort to consolidate our Australian operations and prepare for expansion, we must ensure future growth and employment, alignment with our strategic needs and conforming with the Boeing credo of 'design anywhere, build anywhere.'

"This will provide the nucleus for future growth opportunities, beginning with the High Frequency Modernisation contract - due to be signed later this year - and logistics support activities coupled with work already under way at the RAAF Amberley air base," he said.

Boeing Australia has been established in Australia for 60 years and has 1,700 employees at facilities throughout the country. The company is the preferred tenderer for:

• The Australian Defence Force's new multi-million dollar High Frequency Modernisation Program (HFMOD) that will result in the establishment of a common high-frequency network throughout the ADF and also will offer export potential.

Boeing Australia also is the prime contractor for:

• the combat and communications systems for the Royal Australian Navy's new Collins Class submarines;
• the maintenance and support of the Australian Defence Force's helicopter school at RAAF Fairbairn, Canberra and the DSTO engineering support services at Fisherman's Bend in Melbourne; and
• upgrading the avionics and electronics for the Royal Australian Air Force's F/RF-111C and a major contractor for a similar upgrade on the P-3C aircraft.

A subsidiary company, AeroSpace Technologies of Australia Limited, is a major exporter of aerospace structures to the world's leading aircraft manufacturers.

According to Gray, work at the Boeing Aircraft Systems Division at Avalon Airport in Victoria - specifically the P-3 aircraft refurbishment work as well as the Jindivik pilotless drone support work - will be continued at Avalon.

The Boeing Lilydale, Victoria, electronics manufacturing plant will provide much of the equipment to be used by Boeing in the HFMOD project for the Australian Defence Force as well as supporting other Boeing projects and the existing customer base.

Boeing work with the Collins Class submarines - the provision of the combat and communications system and related programs - is unaffected by the move, with work continuing unchanged at HMAS Watson and another location in Sydney, at the Australian Submarine Corporation Construction Facility in Adelaide and at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia.

Boeing Australia Limited is part of The Boeing Company, which has total worldwide sales in excess of US$49 billion a year.