Boeing

The Boeing Company has expanded its successful military maintenance and modification operations in San Antonio. The Boeing Aerospace Support Center here today dedicated a recently constructed hangar.

Through a 17-year lease agreement with the Greater Kelly Development Authority, the new hangar will add 124,000 square feet of indoor capacity to the center and accommodate three wide-body aircraft.

The Boeing Aerospace Support Center was established in 1998 at the site of the former San Antonio Air Logistics Center at Kelly Air Force Base. The base closed last month, and the facilities are now managed by the Greater Kelly Development Authority.

"This key expansion will allow us to build on the tremendous successes our San Antonio team has made, including delivering more than 375 aircraft in its first three years of operation," said Glenn Hess, vice president and general manager of Maintenance and Modifications for the Boeing Military Aerospace Support business.

"We knew when we established this facility that fast cycle time, affordable cost and preeminent quality were essential to our operations, as our customer would determine our future success," he said. "Our nearly 2,000 San Antonio employees have delivered on those principles, as this expansion attests."

In addition to the new hangar, the Boeing Aerospace Support Center occupies about 1.4 million square feet of enclosed space and 3.5 million square feet of aircraft ramps and run-up areas. The center includes the world's largest freestanding high-bay aircraft hangar, which can accommodate 14 wide-body type aircraft. The San Antonio center performs maintenance and modification services on three U.S. Air Force aircraft types: the C-17, KC-135 and KC-10. The expansion will accommodate growth in those programs, as well as cockpit installations for the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program. Work on those aircraft is expected to begin in 2004.

"The cooperation of the Greater Kelly Development Authority, the City of San Antonio, the State of Texas and other agencies in completing this expansion project is indicative of the strong teamwork and good business climate present in San Antonio and in Texas," Hess said.

The Boeing Aerospace Support Center is one of four military maintenance and modification centers operated by the Boeing Military Aerospace Support business. Other centers are located in Wichita, Kan.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and at Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, Ariz.

By focusing its modernization and upgrades capabilities; maintenance and modification centers; training systems and services; contractor logistics support and services; and spares and technical data competencies in the Military Aerospace Support business, Boeing is the only major military airframe manufacturer with an integrated organization structured to provide total life-cycle customer support for aircraft and weapons systems.