Delta's Avcorp Industries is flying high with the extension of its $80-million contract with Boeing.
The latest five-year deal was announced Tuesday, meaning Avcorp's 16-year business relationship with Boeing will endure. To date, Avcorp has manufactured and shipped 4,209 wheel well fairings to Boeing for its commercial jets. That's about 36 per month being produced at the 300,000square-foot plant on River Way.
The contract, renewed to December 2017, will see Avcorp provide Boeing with wheel well fairings for its next-generation 737, as well as other components for the 737, 747-8, 767 and 777.
Boeing's assembly plant is in Seattle, where the aerospace giant rolls more than one 737 jet off the line daily.
Cathy Hawkins, a senior manager of Boeing, was in Delta this week for the announcement. She noted that Avcorp is a key supplier in Western Canada and that Boeing works with more than 200 Canadian suppliers.
Mark van Rooij, Avcorp's president, said his company also provides parts for Bombardier as well as Boeing defence and commercial. It builds outboard wings for F-35 Lightning II fighter jets as well as complete tail sections of business jets.
The Delta plant's focus is on metal work while Avcorp's satellite plant in Burlington, Ont. is primarily concerned with composites.
"It is something to be part of, that 737, the most successful program that Boeing has," van Rooij said. "I think it's an extraordinary thing in our province."
Pat Bell, B.C.'s minister of jobs, tourism and innovation, said Avcorp's contract with Boeing sustains 75 jobs.
