Douglas Says It May Change Course on Jet : Aerospace: Long Beach back in the picture as production site for proposed MD-95 airliner as Dallas plans hit a snag.
Douglas Aircraft Co., conceding its plans to build its proposed MD-95 jetliner in Dallas are not final, confirmed Friday that it is mulling whether it should do the work at its home plant in Long Beach or at another site in Texas.
Long Beach officials and union leaders, meanwhile, said they’re trying to convince Douglas to move production to Long Beach.
The company, a unit of McDonnell Douglas Corp., has yet to launch the 100-seat aircraft because it’s still awaiting sufficient initial orders. But Douglas said in November that the plane would be built by Dalfort Aviation at Love Field in Dallas.
At full-scale production, the MD-95 work is expected to employ up to 5,000 people.
But while Dalfort “thought they were going to get commitments from the state and the city” to help finance its preparations for the plane, “the state and the city apparently haven’t been forthcoming,” Douglas spokesman John Thom said.
“Therefore, we can’t come to final agreement with Dalfort,” he said. “We’ve not closed the door on Dalfort (but) we thought it would be important to review other options.”
Marc Flake, a spokesman for the city of Dallas, would say only that Dalfort and Douglas “are optimistic about working things out.”
Douglas doesn’t need to make a final decision for several months, because the MD-95 has yet to be launched.
The start also was delayed recently when Scandinavian Airline System, which was thought to be a potential launch customer, instead picked Boeing Co.’s 737 jetliner over the MD-95.
Thom declined to provide details about why Dalfort has not yet closed the deal, and the privately held company declined comment.
But sources familiar with the talks said one snag was that the city and state wanted Douglas to promise a minimum level of MD-95 production before providing Dalfort with aid, which Douglas would not do.
Meanwhile, the union that represents Douglas’ hourly workers in Long Beach, United Aerospace Workers Local 148, is trying to find ways of improving the workers’ efficiency and productivity to “meet or beat that deal” in Texas, said Douglas Griffith, the local’s president.
And Jerry Miller, head of economic development for Long Beach, said that city is examining potential government incentives and other financial steps that would convince Douglas to build the MD-95 in Long Beach.
