Posted on 09/14/2015 6:34:05 PM PDT by markomalley
The European airplane manufacturer Airbus Group opened its first U.S. plant Monday in the Gulf Coast city of Mobile, Alabama, as part of its effort to be closer to American carriers and to snatch business from its main rival Boeing. The $600 million site will be a final assembly destination primarily for the A321, Airbus’s largest single-aisle jet.
State officials are heralding the European aerospace giant’s move to plant its manufacturing flag in the state as a major success, albeit a costly one.
Airbus’s decision to locate in Alabama came with promises from elected officials of more than $158 million in state and local investment, which includes tax breaks and a subsidy for the construction of the facility. The Mobile assembly line will be Airbus’ second manufacturing site outside of Europe, following one in Tianjin, China.
Critics of deals like the one Alabama offered to get Airbus say they are a poor use of taxpayer money, while others contend the subsidies have long-term economic benefits.
"You have to view it in the long term," Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl told the statewide online news site Al.com. "If you look at it from the short term, it just doesn't work.”
Airbus, which already maintains an engineering center in Mobile, says the first planes will roll out of the 116-acre Brookley Aeroplex site in 2016. Airbus’ decision to open up in Boeing’s home turf is part of its bigger push to grab as many of the 30,000 new commercial aircraft the world will need through 2033, according to Boeing.
Alabama state officials estimate that Airbus’s expanded presence in Mobile, a major Southern port city of about 200,000, will contribute about $409 million to the state’s $200 billion gross domestic product, will create 1,000 high-paying jobs by 2018 and will lure Airbus suppliers to the area as well.
The $158.5 million incentive package is among the largest given by states to attract major corporations to set up local operations. According to Good Jobs First, which tracks state government incentives, the Alabama-Airbus deal is the state’s seventh-largest taxpayer-funded incentive package.
Since 1993, Alabama has doled out nearly $3.6 billion in subsidies in deals worth more than $50 million apiece. Boeing, which is by far the largest recipient of state subsidies nationwide, received a $150 million from Alabama for rocket production in the city of Decatur.
Global automakers Honda, Daimler (maker of Mercedes Benz) and Hyundai have received a combined $630.6 million in state and local government subsidies to open up car factories in the state.
Low taxes and a right to work state had nuthing to do with it...
“The South will rise again” ... seems to be happening. Right to work and non-union shops seem to winning the day.
So what?
In California we are getting more illegal aliens and gang members! We’re #1!!
All Alabama is getting is jobs and people that want to work. PSHW!!
THAT, is sooooooo last century.
/s
Nobody should be getting “incentives”.
I wish i didn’t HATE any temp above 70:(
Airbus brings jobs to America, Boeing takes jobs to China,...
Congrats to S. Alabama. I have fond memories of a misspent youth there. (army flight school 85-86)
Jeez, I’m wearing long sleeves below 75. Gulf Coast born and bred though.
Columbus?
People think i’m clinically insane. Same jacket for Spring, Fall and Winter :)
Not one day of the year I wear a long sleeve shirt.
Grandmother was from Sicily but I, like mom, am VERY light skinned. Go figure.
“Low taxes and a right to work state had nuthing to do with it...”
Alabama is not a low tax state
True. The cost advantage between a state like Alabama and ANYWHERE in the EU is already enough for Airbus to do the deal. AL did it to get the plant vs another state.
That’s why I am so glad that Michigan is stripping so many of the incentives from everything from moviemakers to the Auto companies. In the short term it will cost us some jobs but overall its good because it isn’t taking taxpayer money or making taxpayers pick up the slack.
The Ford company jobs that are going to Ohio are only going because Kasich and his legislature are offering incentives they aren’t going to get in Michigan.
I fly American’s A-321s twixt LAX-CLT a lot to see my granddaughter. Just give me a window and that ginger ale in the sky.
Fine plane, ASAIC.
Gee I wonder if Seattle, Washington was considered?.... :)
Ft Rucker, probably.
I’m with you. I live in Louisiana and I love it here. EXCEPT for the heat. I always say, you can put on more clothes but you can only take off so many.
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