“This is great news for Boeing, and I believe it will be great news for Washington. We’ve been anticipating this move and have been working with the Washington Aerospace Partnership and its statewide coalition of business, organized labor and local governments to develop the state’s first comprehensive aerospace strategy. The paramount goal of this effort is to win the 777X for Washington. We will roll out details of this plan soon. In the meantime, the Legislature should use the upcoming special session to make a down payment on the things Washington needs to rebuild our economy and that we know will be important to Boeing in its decision making process – investments in aerospace and STEM education, a comprehensive transportation budget and innovative and efficient ways for business to work with government.
“This is not the time to be complacent about the future of our aerospace industry and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports. I hope the Legislature will agree and prioritize investments that support our efforts so that we can clearly demonstrate to Boeing that there is no reason to consider any place other than Washington to build the 777X. Boeing makes the best commercial airplanes in the world right here in Washington state with the best aerospace engineers and machinists. I’m confident the company appreciates that fact and will continue its long history with our state.”