Boeing officials say Onex deal still moving forward

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Boeing's top executive says he's "pretty confident" the company will carry off the sale of its commercial airplane operations in Kansas and Oklahoma.<br/><br/>Boeing has a

Thursday, April 28th 2005, 7:03 am

By: News On 6

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Boeing's top executive says he's "pretty confident" the company will carry off the sale of its commercial airplane operations in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Boeing has a deal to sell the operations in Wichita, Tulsa and McAlester, Oklahoma, to Onex Corporation of Canada. Both companies are working with Boeing's unions on what the sale will mean for employees.

Boeing interim CEO James Bell said that closing the deal soon would be in the best interests of all parties. He urged the unions to negotiate "in good faith" with Onex.

Boeing has issued pink slips to 9,300 workers at the plants in Wichita and Oklahoma, telling them to apply for jobs with Onex.

Bell says the Canadian company hasn't said how many current Boeing workers it plans to hire.