Lufthansa Technik Tulsa, the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul unit of Hamburg, Germany-based Lufthansa Group, has been awarded two major maintenance contracts by US Airways and United Airlines, company executives said Monday.
Lufthansa Technik has agreed to a multimillion-dollar, five-year contract with US Airways to overhaul engine thrust reversers on the airline's Airbus narrow-body aircraft.
US Airways operates a fleet of 102 Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft that are powered by General Electric CFM56-5B engines. Each jet has four thrust reversers.
Lufthansa Technik Tulsa, 9932 E. 58th St., employs 110 engineers and technicians at its 9,300-square-foot overhaul facilities. The US Airways contract likely will require an expansion of the work force, said company spokesman Cub Smith.
In a related development, Lufthansa Technik Tulsa has successfully installed the first set of aluminum fan cowling doors on a United Airlines Airbus A321. The 4-foot-by-6-foot doors replace composite graphite structures that delaminated due to the effects of weather, heat and oil, company executives said.
Under the agreement with United, the airline will fly the aluminum fan cowling doors for six months. If the airline decides to replace its composite doors with Lufthansa Technik's aluminum product, the Tulsa firm could receive orders for 604 doors on 151 aircraft, officials said.
Smith Brothers Abstract moves across street
Smith Brothers Abstract & Title Co. Inc. has become the first business to move into downtown space vacated four years ago by the Tulsa Metro Chamber.
The move into the entire first floor of 616 S. Boston Ave. more than triples the size of Smith Brothers' space and will help make its abstract research more agile.
The chamber continued to lease the space from Home State Insurance Group of Waco, Texas, until this year. Once the lease ended, Smith Brothers decided to move out of its 3,500-square-foot building at 633 S. Boston Ave.
South Tulsa office park to be built
Tulsa-based GBR Properties plans to spend as much as $6.8 million to build an office park in south Tulsa that will include the company's new headquarters.
Scott Wieczorek, vice president of marketing for the company, said the development -- The Offices at Walnut Creek -- will total 27,750 square feet. Construction at the southeast corner of 81st Street and Florence Place will begin early next year.
The company purchased the 2.78 acres of land in August for $775,000, Wieczorek said. GBR plans an additional $900,000 in infrastructure costs.
The new headquarters building will be the first to go up, with an estimated completion date in mid-2008. It's slated to have a Tuscan design and will be situated in the back of the park.
Four other pads will most likely be constructed for specific tenants, or possibly sold to tenants as build-to-suit pads; GBR must approve the designs.
Williams to add segment to Transco pipeline
Williams Cos. Inc. announced plans Wednesday to build a pipeline that would help transport natural gas produced in the Rocky Mountains to major markets in the Northeast.
The final capacity, scope and cost of the 250-mile Rockies Connector pipeline will be determined following an "open season" on gas customer contracts that will end Oct. 29, Tulsa-based Williams said.
The pipeline is expected to carry about 688,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day from the eastern terminus of the Rockies Express -- a $4.4 billion pipeline project led by Houston-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners -- to Williams' Transco Pipeline System in York, Pa.
Williams anticipates that the conduit will carry enough gas to heat 3 million homes when transportation service begins in November 2010.
Job numbers rise in Tulsa, across state
Oklahoma's service industries helped boost the number of jobs in the state last month, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission reported Tuesday.
Metropolitan Tulsa, likewise, saw job gains in August.
Oklahoma's unemployment rate dipped in August to 4.2 percent, from 4.9 percent in July. A year ago in August, the state had a 4.0 percent jobless rate.
Employment rebounded across the state last month as Oklahoma added 3,700 jobs, giving it a total of 1,568,500 nonfarm jobs, according to the OESC. The state had 18,400 more jobs compared with the same time a year ago, for a 1.2 percent gain.
The state's labor force, total employment and unemployment figures all contracted last month. But it was the 15 percent drop in unemployed people that significantly improved the state's unemployment rate, according to the OESC.
Whereas Oklahoma had 85,730 unemployed people in July, it had 72,660 unemployed in August, the OESC said.
The Tulsa metro area, likewise, saw gains over the month and year. It added 1,200 jobs last month, giving it a total nonfarm employment of 432,100.
The area continued its streak of over-the-year gains -- there were 9,200 more jobs than in August 2006.
Verizon Wireless opens prototype store in Tulsa
Verizon Wireless is still a relative newcomer to the Tulsa market -- it only began offering phone service here in January.
Yet the Basking Ridge, N.J.-based company chose Tulsa as one of just 10 cities for rolling out its Evolution stores, a prototype that eventually will be adopted by Verizon stores across the nation.
Unlike many compact cellular locations, Verizon's new store at 10031 E. 71st St. -- which opened Friday -- features an open, spacious 4,700-square-foot floor plan that encourages customers to browse at their leisure.
As part of the browsing experience, all of the approximately 120 phones carried by Verizon are represented by active, live demonstration models, rather than inactive phones.
The 71st Street store is Verizon's second corporate-owned location in the Tulsa area; the other is in Owasso. Four independent cellular stores offer Verizon services, as well as area Best Buy and Circuit City stores.
Wal-Mart expands $4 prescription program
A year after starting a $4 generic prescription program, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Thursday that it has expanded its offerings to customers at 4,005 Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Neighborhood Market pharmacies nationwide.
Phase 2 of the plan includes offering 24 additional medications in more categories and a quicker turnaround on generics new to the market, Wal-Mart said in a prepared statement.
In-demand prescription medicines have been added to the $4 program, covering glaucoma, attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADD/ADHD, fungal infections, asthma and acne.
New heart and blood pressure medications also have been added, and fertility and prescription birth control will be included at $9.
Wal-Mart ranked Oklahoma 10th in the amount of savings from its program. The retailer said $18.8 million was saved in the state.
The revised full list of $4 medications is available at www.tulsaworld.com/walmartdrugs.
Upcoming this week
Monday -- The Entrepreneur's Resource will host "From Mom to Entrepreneur," 6:30-8:30 p.m., Redbud Auditorium, Hardesty Regional Library, 8316 E. 93rd St. Representatives from the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center, MidFirst Bank and Strategic Employee Benefits Services also are speaking. Free; to register, call 296-9599.
Thursday -- The Community Action Project of Tulsa County will host "To Your Credit -- Everything You Wanted to Know About Your Credit Report," 6-7:30 p.m., CAP administrative offices, 4606 S. Garnett Road. Free; to register call Liz Eccleston at 382-3245.
