Wichita ? For two years, as members of Congress wrestled over the details, Fred Hunt anxiously watched as Boeing Co. sought a contract to provide the U.S. Air Force with a new fleet of midair refueling tankers.

That wait finally ended Wednesday, when the Senate approved the controversial plan for the Air Force to acquire 100 Boeing 767s as part of a $401 billion defense bill.

“It could have a significant impact on us,” said Hunt, whose employer is among the 250 small aerospace suppliers in south-central Kansas who stand to benefit from the deal.

The deal is expected to provide a dramatic boost to a local economy decimated by the downturn in the aviation industry that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Hunt is the business development manager of Vermillion Inc., which specializes in custom wire harnesses specifically designed for military uses. Each of the converted 767 tankers will need as many as 1,000 of the harnesses built by his company.

“We are expecting this program to create as many as 70 additional jobs in the years ahead for us, and for the Wichita economy,” Hunt said.

Those jobs would arrive at Vermillion in the next two to three years, he said. And he expects that other small aircraft parts manufacturers, including some of his own suppliers, also will create jobs because of the tanker deal.

“The bottom line is it is going to be a tremendous boost for the Wichita economy and a badly needed shot in the arm,” Hunt said.

At Boeing alone, the contract could mean between 1,000 to 1,500 jobs, said Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan. Workers at Boeing’s Wichita plant make 767 nose sections, engine nacelles and struts, which are then shipped to Washington state for assembly. The planes will then be flown to Wichita, where workers will convert them into military tankers.

Outside Boeing, the deal could create an additional 2,000 to 2,500 jobs in Wichita at aircraft suppliers bidding for some of the tanker work, Tiahrt said.

“The important thing is we are seeing some daylight at the end of the tunnel in the local economy,” Tiahrt said. “It has been a long drought in aerospace. We are starting to fight back and this is one of the programs that will get us there.”

A spokesman for Boeing in Wichita, Dick Ziegler, called Wednesday’s passage “exceptionally good news.” He cautioned, however, it will take some time to reach those kinds of employment numbers.

“There will be no wholesale hiring,” he said. “With a program like this, it ramps up gradually.”

Janet Harrah, director of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University, said every job at Boeing in Wichita creates an estimated 1.9 additional jobs in the Wichita economy.

“Obviously this is good news for the Boeing Co., but it is also good news for the Wichita economy,”she said. “That is going to support jobs in Wichita, and given the significant number of layoffs in the last few years … anything is good news.”

Keith Entz, owner and chief executive of Entz Aerodyne in Newton, is among those aircraft suppliers that have struggled in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. At one time his company had 10 employees. Now, there are just two full-time and three part-time workers left. If he gets any of the tanker work, he would “definitely” need to hire more people, he said.

“The last two years since Sept. 11 has been atrocious for us, but with the economy starting to pick up and the tanker deal coming to Wichita … it looks like things are looking better for the future,” he said.

Entz Aerodyne, which makes aircraft parts such as wire harnesses, relay boxes, and circuit breaker panels, plans to bid on some of the Boeing tanker work. But even if he fails to get it, work on the tankers will likely free up other work his competition would otherwise go after.

“If there is more work to go around, it benefits everybody,” Entz said.