Learjet in Wichita: soon gone but never forgotten | Commentary

After 58 years, by end of 2021, production of the iconic Learjet aircraft will cease at Bombardier Learjet facilities on Wichita’s Eisenhower Airport. Or likely anywhere else.

The Learjet. The dream and the vision that brought William Powell Lear to Wichita in 1962, armed with engineering blueprints and a few pieces of test equipment and production tooling, determined to revolutionize business aviation.

At the time, he cited his selection of Wichita for this task in simple terms: “If I was going to build automobiles, I would go to Detroit. I’m building airplanes, so I’m going to Wichita.” Wichita is where the skilled engineers were, and the experienced production people.

Immediately the naysayers began. He will never get the airplane built. If he gets it built, it will never fly. If it flies, the government will never certify it. If it gets certified, they will never be able to make customer deliveries. One by one these milestones were reached and achieved by a growing Wichita workforce who, almost to a person, picked up the vision and drive of Bill Lear and made it their own. It was something of a bunker mentality: us against the world.

As customer deliveries exploded (80 in 1965, first year following certification, double the rest of all other business jet manufacturers combined) Wichita and the world began to take notice of this relatively small executive transport that looked like it was traveling at its 560-mile-per-hour cruising speed while still sitting on the ground.

There was never any doubt that Learjet was number four in a four-company dynamo aircraft manufacturing cluster consisting as well of Boeing, Cessna and Beech. But in its early years it had carved out its niche as the only one producing a business jet, and in fact, a jet that was capturing the fancy of the entire industry.

Soon the local media had dubbed Learjet “Hollywood East” as dozens of actors, comedians, musicians, sports celebrities, national politicians and network media personalities descended on Wichita to hobnob with the Lears and to touch and sometimes ride in this airplane that everyone seemed to be talking about. Realizing they were a part of all this spotlight attention brought pride in everyone working on the shop floor and throughout the company.

Within a few short years, the name Learjet was synonymous with the term business jet. Virtually all sightings of small jet aircraft were immediately identified as a Learjet.

Throughout its nearly six-decade history in Wichita, the Learjet product line has had four owners. That’s a lot. Ownership changes do not provide consistency of operations. The first three were significantly undercapitalized to provide financial stability and sufficient funding for aggressive ongoing new product development so vital to long-term success. But the Learjet persisted. Even current owner Bombardier, after some 30 strong years at the helm, has yielded to its own parent company’s financial challenges and was forced to make the tough decision to close out Learjet production. For good, apparently.

What’s next for Bombardier in Wichita? Fortunately, quite a bit. There still are well over 2,000 Learjets throughout the world that need factory service support. And Bombardier years ago chose Wichita for the bulk of its flight test activities, as well as other assignments for local workers.

Smaller in size and without its renowned brand of models moving down its soon-quiet assembly lines, Bombardier Learjet will be different. But the pride of the men and women who work there will continue to bring credit to Wichita and its rightful place as Air Capital of the World.