Aircraft

Boeing's decision to take conversion work on Italian and Japanese tankers back from Aeronavali means parent company Alenia Aeronautica will lose significant workshare on the KC-767 programme.

Workshare was a key factor in Italy's decision to become launch customer for the KC-767, ordering four aircraft in 2002, including three to be modified by Aeronavali. The company was also to convert three of Japan's four aircraft under a 2003 deal.

Modification of Japan's KC-767s has been moved to Boeing's Wichita, Kansas facility, while the second and third Italian tankers, already undergoing conversion in Naples, will be now transferred to Wichita for completion.

Boeing and Alenia Aeronautica are to study alternative industrial offsets to compensate for the workshare lost on the KC-767 programme. "We have an obligation for industrial returns [to Italy], and we will still meet that obligation," says Jeff Keller, Boeing's Italian KC-767 programme manager.

Boeing says the shift from Aeronavali is mainly to reduce delays in the programme, and there are no production or quality problems with the Italian company. Aeronavali could still perform future conversions if Boeing receives additional orders for the tanker.