Boeing To Sell Georgia Plant

SEATTLE - Boeing has decided to sell its Macon, Ga., plant, which manufactures cargo-handling systems and other aircraft components, to LucasVarity of London.

Purchase price was not disclosed.

Lucas Aerospace, a division of LucasVarity and a supplier to Boeing, will continue to operate the plant, which employs about 700 people. The operation will be renamed Lucas Aerospace Cargo Systems.

In other Boeing news:

-- James Noblitt, vice president and general manager of the Boeing Missiles and Space Division and president of Boeing Commercial Space, was awarded the 1996 Werner Von Braun Award for excellence in space-program management.

The award, presented by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, honors Noblitt for his leadership of Boeing's work on the international space station and the Sea Launch program.