Boeing relocates global headquarters to Virginia from Chicago

The company also plans to develop a research and technology centre in the area

A Boeing office building in Arlington, Virginia. Bloomberg

Boeing is moving its global headquarters to its Arlington, Virginia campus from Chicago, where it has been for more than two decades, the company said on Thursday.

The plane maker had been based in Seattle for most of its century-long history before relocating to Chicago in 2001, four years after its merger with McDonnell Douglas.

The company plans to develop a research and technology centre in Virginia to "harness and attract engineering and technical capabilities", it said in a statement.

"The region makes strategic sense for our global headquarters given its proximity to our customers and stakeholders, and its access to world-class engineering and technical talent," said Boeing president and chief executive Dave Calhoun.

The company said it will maintain a significant presence in Chicago and its surrounding region, while its three business units will continue to operate at their current headquarters: Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle, Washington, Boeing Global Services in Plano, Texas, and Boeing Defence, Space and Security in Arlington, Virginia.

Boeing, which employs more than 140,000 people, has required less office space during the past two years amid the coronavirus pandemic, with employees working from home and plans to adapt and modernise its Chicago workspace.

Its new research and technology centre will focus on developing innovations in cyber security, autonomous operations, quantum sciences and software and systems engineering.

Boeing’s shares fell 4.1 per cent to $150.47 in New York trading Thursday amid a broad US market decline. The stock has dropped about 25 per cent this year as the company struggled to clear regulatory hurdles to resume 787 deliveries.

It posted a net loss of more than $1.2 billion in the first quarter, underpinned by a dip in sales and charges relating to the Russian war in Ukraine.

The loss in the three months to the end of March was nearly $681 million more than the US plane maker suffered in the same period last year. Revenue dropped 8 per cent year-on-year to almost $14bn in three-month period.

Boeing has nearly completed the safe return to service of the 737 MAX after two fatal crashes but it has delayed the delivery of its first 777-9 jet, a variant of its new 777X aircraft, by another year, with deliveries now expected to start in 2025.