Tuesday is the deadline is for states to submit their bids to Boeing in hopes of winning the 777X assembly line.
Washington is competing with more than a dozen other locations to build the next generation wide-body airliner. The competitors include Utah, California, Missouri and Alabama.
Washington’s aerospace director Alex Pietsch believes Washington still has a “leg up” on other states despite the vote last month by unionized machinists to reject a new labor contract.
“We believe that the easiest path and the path with the least risk for the company and its customers is to build this plane right here in Washington state, and we intend to make that case,” Pietsch said.
Details of what Boeing’s looking for leaked out last week. Some of the items on the company’s wish list include: significant tax incentives, subsidies to build the assembly line and access to long runways, rail lines and seaports.
The Washington Legislature has already approved nearly $9 billion in tax breaks plus other incentives designed to keep 777 production in the Northwest.
Boeing is expected to announce a decision early next year.
