Airbus Would Create More US Jobs with Tanker Contract

Airbus says if the US Air Force chooses the Airbus A330 as its new tanker, instead of Boeing’s 767, more Americans will get new jobs.

Airbus parent company EADS says Boeing would outsource parts manufacturing overseas. If Airbus is chosen, the firm will create 1,500 jobs at a new assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama.

The Airbus A330s would be shipped in sections from Europe to Mobile for final assembly. The Boeing plane would be assembled in Everett, Washington, creating 2,000 jobs.

The Pentagon has expressed a preference that American jobs be protected when it awards the multi-billion dollar tanker contract. This is a change from Bush-era policy, which forbade the Defense Department from protecting US jobs.

Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Toulouse, France, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world’s jet airliners.