Gov. Inslee Announces Plan to Get New Boeing Airliner Built in Washington

It's an ambitious plan and hopefully it will work.

If successful, it could mean thousands of jobs for Washington state. Gov. Jay Inslee announced the creation of the Washington Aerospace Partnership, made up of business leaders, state officials and others who will help secure the project.

Boeing has plans to build the new 777X airliner and Inslee wants it here. Some of the ways he and the Partnership hope to convince Boeing to build it here include:

• Conduct an economic analysis to demonstrate the value of investments that will secure the project.
• Update the previous proposal that was used to secure the older 737Max program in Washington state, and utilize it towards the new 777X.
• Reduce burdens on the aerospace industry to simplifying and streamlining government agencies and policies involved in aerospace.
• Review existing aerospace incentives (tax breaks) in relation to the production life of the 777X. That means giving Boeing real, tangible reasons to build the plane here. Many have not forgotten the tepid, indecisive response former Gov. Chris Gregoire had to the Areva company wanting to build an enrichment plant in the Tri-Cities that would have created 600 jobs. While Gregoire ignored the urgings of both Democrat and Republican leaders (Murray, Hastings, Cantwell, etc.), the project went to Idaho, which offered up numerous tax and economic incentives.

A number of other plans are in place as the state throws its weight behind efforts to get this massive project built here. The economic impact for Everett, Seattle and the rest of the state could be enormous if Boeing chooses to build its latest generation of aircraft in the Evergreen state.