Convair Wins Contract to Build MD-11 Jet Fuselages

SAN DIEGO — General Dynamics’ Convair division has won a contract to build as many as 200 fuselages for McDonnell Douglas’ MD-11 wide-body jetliners, creating 1,400 new jobs in San Diego during the next four years.

The MD-11 contract will be worth $2.5 billion if all 200 fuselages are built, Convair spokesman Jack Isabel said Tuesday.

“According to the proposal that Convair submitted to McDonnell Douglas, if all 200 (fuselages) were built over the next several years, the potential value of the contract would be $2.5 billion,” Isabel said.

In addition to the 1,400 new jobs, about 600 employees will be shifted to the MD-11 program after Convair finishes building fuselages for three McDonnell Douglas KC-10 military jet tankers.

“Between now and 1991, when construction will be at full swing, we expect to have about 2,000 people supporting the MD-11 program,” Isabel said.

Tooling and fabrication will begin by this summer, according to the Convair spokesman, and the first fuselages are to be delivered during 1988.

The Convair division previously built 378 DC-10 passenger airplane fuselages at its Lindbergh Field facility in San Diego. Preliminary design work on the MD-11 will be speeded along because the new wide-body airliner is a derivative of the DC-10 jetliner.

About 4,000 Convair employees in San Diego are involved in the production of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

McDonnell Douglas last week announced that it would move ahead with construction of the long-awaited MD-11, which is larger than the DC-10. The company said it had 12 orders for 52 MD-11s and options for 40 more. The airplanes cost between $60 million and $100 million each.

Last week, Rohr Industries of Chula Vista, Calif., announced that it had received a $300-million contract to provide engine pylons for the MD-11. Rohr also has contracts with several engine manufacturers to build engine cowlings for the airliner.

However, Rohr officials said they would not be able to place a value on the cowling contracts until after airlines determine which engines they will buy for the plane.