Boeing Airplane Services recently announced plans to shift some of its commercial passenger-to-freighter hardware installation work from the U.S. state of Kansas to China due to a fall in orders.

The company said its subcontractor Taikoo (Xiamen) Aircraft Engineering Co. Ltd. will start handling the work on the Chinese mainland in the second quarter of next year.

The move is part of Boeing Aircraft Services' plan to shift its hardware installation work to its worldwide aircraft modification network of subcontractors.

The company currently works closely with international modification and engineering facilities to provide retrofit packages for Boeing's commercial planes.

The facilities include Aeronavali, Goodrich, InterContinental Aircraft Services, Israel Aircraft Industries, Singapore Technologies Aerospace, SR Technics Group Ltd. and TAECO.

"We are transferring our work because of a decline in B747-200/300 passenger-to-freighter conversion orders over the past two years," said spokeswoman Li Maomao of Boeing China Inc. "The drop, plus our strategy to boost technical knowledge and expertise for airlines, has led to the decision."

Boeing presently owns 9 percent of TAECO, in which it invested US$11 million in 1997. The Chinese heavy-aircraft maintenance and repair company has already handled conversions of B747 passenger planes into freighters, using parts supplied by Boeing's airplane services unit.

The shift will affect about 500 Boeing workers in Wichita, Kansas, Bloomberg News reported. The workers will likely be absorbed by other projects in Wichita, such as maintenance work on KC-135 and B-52 military planes and a U.S. Air Force program to install an airborne laser on B747s.

(Eastday.com.cn 07/24/2001)