Wichita ? Boeing Co. will not decide until early next year whether to sell its commercial airplane operations in Kansas and Oklahoma, company officials told employees Friday.

In a brief e-mail to workers from Jeff Turner, general manager of Boeing’s Wichita operations, and other top officials, the company said it had planned to make a decision by the end of this year.

“The process is very complex, though, and Boeing wants to be sure that all aspects of this decision are considered,” the e-mail said. “We now expect a decision early in 2005.”

Boeing announced earlier this year that it was considering selling its commercial aviation plants in Wichita, and Tulsa and McAlester, Okla.

A December announcement had been widely anticipated since October, when Boeing chief executive Harry Stonecipher said the company was reviewing bids and probably would make a decision by the end of 2004.

“What this message really says is we are going to take a sufficient amount of time so whatever decision is reached is the right decision,” said Boeing spokesman Dick Ziegler. “We are not on a deadline.”

Boeing employs about 8,400 workers at the three locations, 7,100 of them in Wichita. Boeing’s defense business in Wichita, and its 3,400 workers, are not part of the sale.

“In order for there to be a greater chance of the right decision, we need to consider three sets of people: our employees, our stockholders and our community,” Ziegler said.

The delay did not surprise union officials.

Bob Brewer, Midwest director for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, said he could see a sale of this magnitude taking longer than expected given all of the logistics involved.

“It’s more disappointment than anything,” Brewer said. “People who have spent their career out at Boeing … had anticipated hearing what their future might hold and now they are in a holding pattern again.”

British firm GKN PLC — long believed to be the most likely buyer — said last month it had pulled out of negotiations.

Other potential buyers whose names have surfaced in speculation by industry analysts and union officials include Dallas-based Vought Aircraft Industries and its parent, The Carlyle Group, an investment firm based in Washington, D.C., and the Canadian investment group Onex Corp.