Officials with Spirit Aerosystems announced Wednesday that they have exceeded the additional 1,000 jobs that were announced a year ago with plans for a $1 billion expansion. Spirit president Tom Gentile also announced that the company will be adding another 1,400 jobs as part of the expansion.
The announcement was made at the Spirit plant in Wichita during an event attended by Governor Jeff Colyer, Governor-elect Laura Kelly, Wichita mayor Jeff Longwell, Sedgwick County Commission chairman David Dennis and Kansas Senate president Susan Wagle. Wichita city council members, Sedgwick County commissioners and area legislators also attended the announcement.
The expansion calls for new buildings and equipment along with an advanced technology warehouse. The city of Wichita, Sedgwick County and the state of Kansas are providing incentives for the project.
Gentile said a majority of the new positions will be hourly employees, such as mechanics, machine operators, sheet metal workers and composite workers, and they will come from WSU Tech and other technical institutions. He said with support from the state in technical and career education programs, “we are shaping the future of the Kansas aviation workforce and positioning ourselves to win new work on the next generation of aircraft.”
Governor Colyer said the announcements from Spirit will be important for generations of Kansans. He said the new jobs will spin off thousands of additional jobs in retail, health care and other areas and that helps the entire state. Governor-elect Kelly said the strength of Spirit is the strength of Wichita, and that is vital to the ongoing economic health of the state.
