Nigel Pittaway | Melbourne

Boeing has released the results of a study into its economic activity in Australia by BIS Oxford Economics (formerly Oxford Economics), which revealed that the company generated almost $1.3 billion for the Australian economy in 2016.

Shane Arnott, director Phantom Works, said that the impact statement, released on September 27, was a ‘milestone event’, a one-off study to mark the 90th anniversary of Boeing’s presence in Australia.

“Generally I think we’ve done a great job of keeping secret what we do as Boeing in Australia and a lot of people just aren’t aware of the diversity and the breadth of what we do here in Australia,” Arnott said. “It’s our biggest presence outside the United States.”

Boeing spent in excess of $400m across its Australian supply chain ... in 2016

The statement also reported that Boeing supports over 9300 direct and indirect jobs in the country, a figure which also includes employment it said resulted from ‘induced spending by Boeing and its suppliers’ employees’.

“It’s pretty significant I think; an impact of over a billion dollars on the Australian economy last year,” Arnott added. “It just shows what we contribute here. It’s all about recognising what Australians are doing in Australia, for the country, wearing the Boeing badge.”

It should however be noted that the figures are for all Boeing activity in Australia, including Boeing Defence Australia, Boeing Aerostructures Australia and in-country subsidiaries such as Insitu Pacific and its operations in Australia such as Phantom Works and Boeing Research and Technology Australia (BR&T–Australia).

The impact statement also revealed that Boeing spent in excess of $400 million across its Australian supply chain of more than 1,500 companies in 2016, of which it said 50 per cent were SMEs. It said another $47 million was invested in research and development activities over the period of the analysis, primarily through Phantom Works and BR&T-Australia.

Arnott says he expects these figure to continue to grow for the foreseeable future. “Globally, Boeing is roughly a US$100 billion company. Our CEO Dennis Muilenburg wants to see that [figure] grow substantially and he expects a lot of that growth to happen globally and so, in leading countries like Australia, we expect significant growth,” he said.

“On the commercial side there’s a new airplane development program brewing [and] there’s a real opportunity for our commercial side in Australia to have a work statement coming from that. On the Defence side there’s some really significant upgrades to Wedgetail, there’s Air 6500 and there are some things that we are working on in the unmanned space – not just air, but also maritime.”