Textron Inc.’s CEO said Friday that his aviationcompany’s $1.4 billion purchase of Beechcraft
Corp. will require"restructuring and optimization of costs." But how the deal will affectthousands
of employees at Beechcraft’s home base in Kansas, andelsewhere, remains unclear.Textron, Cessna Aircraft’s
parentcompany, announced late Thursday that it was purchasing Wichita,Kan.-based Beechcraft in a merger of
big players in aviation. On Friday,a Textron spokesman said it was too early to speculate on workforcesize
or plant consolidations.Civic leaders seemed optimistic inWichita, where Beechraft is one of the linchpin
businesses with about3,300 employees. The company emerged from bankruptcy earlier this year.JeremyHill,
director of the Center for Economic Development and BusinessResearch at Wichita State University, said the
merger was good news. Henoted that Textron already has ties to Wichita because Cessna Aircraftwas founded in
the central Kansas city more than 80 years ago.Hillspeculated that some upper management cuts could happen,
but he doubtedthat the number of line workers would be reduced by much, if any."I will say both
companies are fairly lean," Hill said. "I can’t imagine there would be many more
layoffs."WichitaMayor Dale Brewer and the City Council released a statement calling theacquisition
"a development of great interest" to Wichita."Ourcity’s reputation as the Air Capital of the
World has been built on thesolid business decisions of our aviation industry," the statement
read."We fully expect that the Textron/Beechcraft merger will result in apositive outcome for the
individual businesses and the community as awhole."Brewer was out of town Friday and unavailable for
comment, his spokesman said.Messagesseeking comment from the International Association of Machinists
&Aerospace Workers union in Wichita were not returned.During aFriday teleconference with analysts,
Textron chairman and CEO Scott C.Donnelly acknowledged that Beechcraft employees have been through a lotin
recent years. Beechcraft emerged from bankruptcy 10 months ago —largely freed from debt and its unprofitable
Hawker business jetoperations."From an employee’s perspective, obviously we aregoing to need to go
through restructuring and optimization of costs, butit’s going to strengthen those King Air and T-6 and
Baron and Bonanzaproducts going forward," Donnelly said, referring to Beechcraft’s linesof
airplanes.Company spokesman Dave Sylvestre said theProvidence, R.I.-based Textron was appointing a
transition team, butuntil that team begins its work, "it would be too early for us tospeculate on what
it means in terms of workforce size or plantconsolidations or anything like that."But, he added:
"Beechcraft now has a strong parent company, which means greater stability and investor capacity for
Beechcraft."Beechcraftwas founded in Kansas in the 1930s, then purchased by the Canadianinvestment firm
Onex Partners and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s privateequity arm in 2007. It has more than 36,000 aircraft in
service, butstruggles in the sluggish business jet market during the economicdownturn forced it to file for
bankruptcy reorganization in May 2012.Cessnawas founded in Wichita in 1927, and has built and delivered
nearly200,000 airplanes worldwide since then, including 6,500 Citationbusiness jets, according to Textron.
It also makes Caravan single-engineutility turboprops and single-engine piston aircraft, and
providesaftermarket services including include parts, maintenance, inspectionand repairs.Donnelly lauded
Beechcraft’s line of King Air turboprop planes as complements to Cessna’s Caravan and Citation jet
lineup.BeechcraftCEO Bill Boisture had said in recent months that he expected thecompany would sell at least
its idled business jet assets by the end of2013."Textron’s experience in the industry and its
willingness toinvest in and maintain the iconic Beechcraft brand make it an idealparent company, one that
will help us continue to satisfy our customersand meet our business objectives at a faster pace,"
Boisture said in astatement on Thursday.Textron’s stock was up 1.2 percent to $36.64 in afternoon trading on
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