Will Make Room For New Products Like Longitude And Denali In Wichita

Textron Aviation plans to move production of its Caravan airplanes out of Wichita southeast 113 miles to its facility in Independence, KS.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the company says that there will be no impact on jobs at either facility, but the move will make room in Wichita for production of the Citation Longitude, which it says is weeks away from its first flight, and the new Denali single-engine turboprop airplane.

A timeline for the move has not been established. A company spokeswoman told the paper that the move is "very early in transition planning."

In a statement released Friday, Textron said "This move will utilize capacity at our Independence, Kansas, facility, while making our Wichita workforce available for new products such as the Citation Longitude and Cessna Denali. We remain focused on new product development and, as such, must ensure our footprint and facilities meet the current and future needs of the business.”

The independence plant is where the Skyhawk, Skylane, and Stationair aircraft are built, as well as the Citation Mustang and M2 business jets and the TTx single.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.txtav.com