WASHINGTON (AP) -- In an attempt to reshape itself to compete with Airbus, Boeing Co. is seeking to sell off some commercial aircraft and support operations.þþThe company confirmed that it is searching for a buyer after The Associated Press obtained an internal memo outlining the idea to employees at facilities in Wichita, Kan., and Tulsa and McAlester, Okla.þþSelling its commercial operations is one of several scenarios under consideration as the company tries to focus more on design, sales and marketing, spokesman Craig Martin said. Boeing dropped behind Airbus in commercial airplane manufacturing last year.þþThe news did not surprise industry analysts.þþ``Boeing does not want to supply itself,'' said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group. ``You outsource it by selling it. You get the cash and you get to squeeze the operations'' for cost cuts that are much tougher to achieve internally, he said.þþThe operations could fetch ``a couple of billion'' dollars, according to aerospace analyst Paul Nisbet, of Rhode Island-based JSA Research.þþ``They've been slowly but surely getting out of the more concentrated manufacturing efforts and concentrating on systems integration and final assembly,'' Nisbet said.þþ``It's a continuing endeavor of theirs to streamline their operations so that there aren't the ups and downs of hiring and firing to the degree that they've had and to concentrate on what they think they do best,'' he said.þþAnalysts said one potential buyer is British conglomerate GKN Aerospace Services, which has acknowledged it is seeking to buy more plants in U.S. military and commercial aircraft manufacturing. Another is Vought Aircraft Industries, a Dallas-based manufacturer of large aircraft structures and key Boeing supplier.þþGKN purchased Boeing's Hazelwood, Mo., facility near St. Louis in 2001. Messages left with GKN and with Vought on Thursday were not immediately returned.þþIn the memo dated Thursday, four Boeing executives wrote: ``We've now reached the point where the next logical step is to see whether there is market interest in these operations and, if so, how they might be valued.''þþ``None of us can predict the future,'' the officials wrote. ``We can tell you, though, that the Wichita/Tulsa division will remain a critical supplier to Boeing under any of the scenarios under study.''þþRumors that prospective buyers have been inspecting the sites in recent weeks likely prompted the memo, Nisbet said.þþMartin, the Boeing spokesman, said: ``What we're asking is, 'Here are the facilities. Are you interested or would you be interested in them, and how would you value them?'''þþBoeing produces parts for all its commercial jetliners, except the 717, in Wichita, an aviation-dependent community hit hard by the economic downturn that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.þþThe sale raises questions about what will happen to 8,300 to 8,400 other commercial aircraft jobs in the three locations, 7,100 of them in Wichita. The company's defense division and its 3,400 workers in Wichita apparently would not be part of the sale.þþ``I'm very disappointed,'' said Wichita's congressman, GOP Rep. Todd Tiahrt. ``I've done everything within my power to keep high-paying, high-quality jobs with the Boeing name, but obviously I can't control what The Boeing Co. does.''þþBob Brewer, Midwest director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, said the union must be involved in any sale discussion.þþ``We have people who have devoted their careers to building this company in Wichita and they cannot simply be regarded as pieces of equipment,'' Brewer said.þþShares of Boeing fell 41 cents to close at $41.35 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. In after-hours trading, the shares fell another 35 cents.þþ
Source: NY Times
