STE. GENEVIEVE -- Sabreliner Corp. celebrated its opening of a new manufacturing facility here Aug. 12.

Jim Meier, Sabreliner's vice president for government services, said the local facility is the 10th plant in Sabreliner Corp.

Sabreliner currently has about 70 employees working in the former GrandPa's building. The 72,000-square-foot building had been vacant for more than two years.

Sabreliner is using the space to overhaul components for U.S. Air Force KC-135 aircraft under a $40 million contract with the Boeing Co. Each KC-135 in the 640-plane fleet will be taken apart, inspected, repaired and reassembled every five years at various locations across the U.S.

In Ste. Genevieve, the planes being overhauled were built in the 1950s and '60s. Sabreliner will overhaul essential components of up to 30 or more aircraft each year at the Ste. Genevieve facility through 2007 under a multi-option contract with Boeing.