Print edition: 
Hawker Beechcraft said Monday that it will close its Salina plant and move the work, but a timeline and a destination for the jobs have not been determined.
Difficult market conditions and a predicted slow recovery of the business jet market "have forced us literally to look at our entire business, including our footprint," said Hawker Beechcraft vice president for human resources Rich Jiwanlal.
Closing the Salina facilities will take place in stages, Jiwanlal said.
Hawker Beechcraft employs more than 240 people in Salina. Employment is down from more than 500 a year ago.
Hawker Beechcraft leases 13 buildings and 484,000 square feet at the Salina Municipal Airport, where it builds wings, spar assemblies and other subassemblies. The lease on its buildings expires Feb. 28, 2012.
Machinists union District 70 president Steve Rooney said the union will be in discussions with the company about the possibility of moving a significant number of jobs to Wichita.
Moving the work to Wichita is the company's first preference, Jiwanlal said. He is "cautiously optimistic" that will occur.
"But it must make business sense, which is critical during these difficult times," he said.
If the work moves to Wichita, Salina employees will have an opportunity to move with the jobs, Jiwanlal said.
The company has given the union a list of recommendations to make the business case, he said. The union plans to respond in the next few weeks, Jiwanlal said.
Leadership from Hawker Beechcraft and the union have met three times since September.
"Everybody, including the union membership, has a stake in this picture," Jiwanlal said. "They should be in these conversations."
Still, "if we cannot work with the union to relocate those jobs to Wichita, then our options are wide open — domestically and internationally," Jiwanlal said. "No question about it."
The plant's closure is a blow to the Salina area, where Hawker Beechcraft is one of its biggest employers.
"It's a tough hit," Randy Duncan, chairman of the Salina City Commission, said in a news conference Monday. "We'd like to wave a magic wand and make sure something like this doesn't happen.
"We will bounce back and recover."
Hawker Beechcraft and its predecessors have operated in Salina since 1966.
"It's a very significant loss to the community — the jobs and payroll," said Tim Rogers, executive director of the Salina Airport Authority.
Salina Area Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Dennis Lauver said Salina officials had met with company managers to request specific information on requirements so they could put together a "meaningful incentive package."
They were working on an incentive package to be based on a certain number of jobs and renewal of the lease on the buildings, he said.
Jiwanlal said the company had looked at various forms of local and state government assistance.
"So far, the amount of assistance available through sources has not even come close to meeting our business and financial needs for keeping Salina open," he said. "We'll continue to be extremely open to these options."
