Spirit AeroSystems selected its Wichita facility as the site where the company will design and manufacture the fuselage for the new Cessna Citation Columbus. To accommodate the manufacturing and testing of the Columbus fuselage, Spirit plans to build a new 375,000-square-foot factory. The facility will also provide additional capacity for existing products and other new programs.
Over the next five years, Spirit expects to invest approximately $260 million and create an estimated 700 jobs with a projected annual payroll of more than $42 million in the state of Kansas. “We said all along that our desire was to design and build the Cessna Columbus in Wichita,” said Jeff Turner, Spirit president and CEO. “Working together with state and local partners, we were able to close the business case for the Columbus and other new programs, enabling us to make this investment in the Wichita site. Through this partnership, we were able to combine Spirit investment, including customer program support, with state and local incentives to maintain and grow jobs in Kansas.”
Spirit AeroSystems has expanded production on current airplane programs and won multiple new contracts across the aerospace industry since its formation in June 2005. The State of Kansas and the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition played key roles in securing the additional work and resulting jobs for Wichita and Kansas.
The Kansas Department of Commerce and the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition worked closely with Spirit to secure the investment in the new facility. The Kansas Department of Commerce committed $14.5 million in funding to help secure the Spirit investment. The City of Wichita and Sedgwick County committed $3.2 million total, or $1.6 million each, and a 10-year property tax abatement.