People from the Washingtons on both coasts hailed the purchase that launched the Boeing Co.’s 7E7 program Monday, calling it a major piece of good news for a region and a company that needed some.
“Everybody’s real excited,” said Alan Winters, a flight line mechanic in Everett. “Hopefully it will secure our jobs and bring some people back.”
Boeing employees reported to work Monday morning to find an e-mail telling them that All Nippon Airways had ordered 50 7E7s, and based on that, the board of directors had committed to launching the program.
After all the bad news of recent years – layoffs, ethics scandals and sales lost to Airbus – it was long-overdue good news, Winters said.
“It’s a good positive thing,” he said. “Morale may be a little bit better.”
The announcement cheered state and local officials.
“This order is the best economic news for Boeing’s working families in a long time,” said U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “We all hope that this is the start of a long line of orders.”
“It bodes so well for our county,” said South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce president Jean Hales. “Obviously, it means jobs, which we’ve worked so hard to keep here, and it means more related businesses locating here.”
Those jobs will be the payoff of a lot of hard work, several officials said.
“This is one of the reasons we made the investments in critical infrastructure and the tax incentives a year ago,” said Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, who worked as a state senator on the incentive package offered to the Boeing Co. for assembling the 7E7 here.
“Our local Boeing workers are the best-trained aerospace manufacturing workers in the world, and we worked hard to make sure they would assemble the 7E7 Dreamliner,” said U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash.
The factory may be in Everett, but the benefits will be felt around Snohomish County, said Caldie Rogers, the president and chief executive officer of the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce
“It really has a direct impact on our community,” she said, noting that Marysville is home to a large number of Boeing workers.
The benefits go statewide, said Gov. Gary Locke. “It’s a project that’s critical to our long-term competitiveness and economic vitality, as well as to the future of our aerospace industry,” he said. “This order is great news for Boeing and great news for the people of Washington.”
Work continues to fulfill the promises that state and local governments made to Boeing if it assembled the new jet in Everett. Last week, the state started advertising for proposed locations for a new school to train 7E7 workers.
Work on a new barge pier for Boeing also is on track, said Port of Everett director John Mohr. “Everything is on schedule,” he said. “The pier will be ready to receive in the first quarter of 2006, based on the schedule we’re operating under.”
Everett officials are “thrilled,” Mayor Ray Stephanson said.
“We see this as the first big step in the economic recovery for our area,” he said. “We’re hopeful that only further good news will come.”
“Fifty planes – that’s massive,” Winters said. “That’s only one customer. We’ve got a lot of others out there.”
Herald writer Mike Benbow contributed to this report.
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