Aerospace and defense giant Boeing Co. (BA) said Thursday that it will move about 1,000 jobs from Puget Sound area in Washington to Southern California, as it is centralizing customer support for in-service airplanes at its Boeing Commercial Airplanes Engineering Design Center in Southern California.

The Southern California Engineering Design Center currently employs about 1,800 people at the company's Long Beach and Seal Beach sites. With this work placement, Boeing expects employment at these sites to increase by about 1,000 positions during the next two years.

Boeing said that many of its affected employees in Puget Sound area in Washington will be offered positions with other programs in the Puget Sound area. Employees will also have opportunities to apply for new positions in California.

Lynne Thompson, vice president of Customer Support, Commercial Aviation Services, Boeing Commercial Airplanes said, "We're creating a single location for customer support at the Southern California design center to ensure that we are well-positioned to support Boeing airplanes in service around the world as the market continues to grow. We will be expanding our presence in Southern California to create a site dedicated to a superior customer experience."

In May 2013, Boeing established engineering design centers in South Carolina, Southern California and Washington state to add engineering capability and capacity to meet growing demand for its commercial airplanes and services.

According to Boeing, customer support for the 707, 717, 727, 757, DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-11 and MD-80/-90 models are currently based in Southern California. The company noted that customer support for the Next-Generation 737, 747, 767 and 777 models, as well as commercial product support for the KC-46 Tanker and P-8, will transition from Washington to California by the end of 2015.

Boeing said its employees in the Puget Sound Area will now focus on helping customers introduce new airplanes - 787 Dreamliner, the 737 MAX and the 777X - into their fleets.

BA closed Thursday's regular trading session at $123.64, down $3.24 or 2.55 percent on a volume of 3.96 million shares.

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