MASCOUTAH, Ill. (AP) — The Boeing Corp. says it has begun production at its new military aircraft assembly plant at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah.
The Chicago-based aerospace giant announced Monday that it has 14 employees at work at the building that was formerly the airport's 50,000-square-foot warehouse.
The workers are performing assembly and sub-assembly work on the F/A-18 fighter jet, the C-17 Globemaster III air cargo plane, and its CH-47 Chinook helicopter.
Boeing tells the Belleville News-Democrat that it expects to put another 20-25 employees to work at the MidAmerica plant in the second quarter of this year. The facility is expected to employ 75 workers by mid-2012.
The state is giving Boeing $2.3 million to help cover the cost of setting up manufacturing at MidAmerica.