Boeing Co. has announced that it will be closing its defense plant in Witchita, KS by the end of the summer, a decision that will cost more than 2,160 employees their jobs. The company plans to move future aircraft maintenance, modification, and support work to it’s San Antonio, TX plant, while engineering work will be moved Oklahoma City, reports CBS.

Boeing says the move is a result of recent budget reductions:

“In this time of defense budget reductions, as well as shifting customer priorities, Boeing has decided to close its operations in Wichita to reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and drive competitiveness,” said Mark Bass, vice president and general manager for the Boeing Defense, Space & Security facility in Wichita.

Boeing has had a long-term, postive relationship with the city of Witchita, having employed thousands of local workers for over 80 years. The city has long prided itself on being the “air capital of the world,” an identity that will undoubtedly suffer in the wake of Boeing’s decision to shutter its defense plant.

As Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer told CBS news, “Many people — generations upon generations — have had an opportunity to be employed there and that could very easily be the end of that … They are a very important part of us here.”

Though Wichita is still home to a number of other airline and aviation supply manufacturers, as Mayor Brewer put it, “it is kind of like family that you actually have and a member of the family is moving away.”

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