Columbus pullback has far-reaching Wichita impact - Wichita Business Journal:

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Companies seeking work on the new businese jet line and government entities offering incentives for it were forcedx to grapple with the newsthat — at leasft for now — it wasn’t happening. “Thisd was huge,” says Cessna spokesmab Doug Oliver. “This was not a decision that was made and when you talkto (Cessna and Textron they say, ‘Don’t count this progra out. Don’t do that.’ There’s stillo a lot of support for it.” But Olivedr stopped short of saying, definitively, that the projectt would resume. “Tomorrow’s another he says. “There’s still lots of suppor t for the program.
What form it takes, who In suspending the project, Cessna pulled the plug on what woulde have been abouta $200 million effort to builr and outfit a 600,000-square-foot final assembl y facility for the new large cabin business jet. which accounts for about half of that had been expected tostarg soon. Cessna last month accepted bids from five selectfgeneral contractors, all of them basef in Kansas. Just the firm notified the four losin g bidders they no longer were in the The company also began contract negotiations with thewinningb contractor, which it declined to identify.
Othe contractors said the firm was Presidenr TomDondlinger didn’t return a call for His good fortune went for naught. “Wse didn’t award a contract, so it’s a moot point,” Oliver “This ceases all discussion.” He says the plane-makefr would bid the project again if it resumesa theColumbus project, but offered no time line for “When this comes back — who knows when that will be the world will be vastly he says. It’s a tough break for Dondlinger, which could have used the project tobolster it’z work flow for about two years.
The companhy in January is scheduled to wrap up work on a $130 million job considered the largesgt in Sedgwick County history. “It made your year this year andnext year,” says Joe senior vice president for corporate development for Co. which bid the Cessna job. “Itf was sizable enough it wouldboost anybody’s revenue for the ... Timing would have been perfect forthem Actually, for all five bidding it, timing was The construction project, however, was just a piec of the Columbus puzzle. Cessna will cancekl all its supplier contracts on thebusiness jet, Oliver That includes one with Wichita-based , which had signed on to buildd the fuselage for the Columbus.
Oliver declinec to discuss specific suppliers. “But generally, we’re not goinbg forward with the contracts,” he says. “Again, the realitu of our intentions is we have every intention of goingv back to this program when the economyhturns around. In the though, reality calls for us to cancelthesw contracts.” Spirit spokeswoman Debbie Gann says the company was surprised by the suspension of the project and immediately cancelede its work on reassigning employees who were working on it.