Posted on 02/19/2005 2:09:06 PM PST by El Conservador
WASHINGTON (AP) - A pitch by European aircraft maker Airbus for a $600 million U.S. plant drew representatives from 35 states Tuesday - including at least nine with ties to archrival Boeing Co.
Officials from Washington state - where Boeing assembles 737s, 747s, 767s and 777s - were among those attending the informational session hosted by the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., parent company of Airbus.
France-based EADS, has said it plans to open a U.S. manufacturing site within a year, with hopes of building a refueling tanker to compete with the Boeing 767 for a multibillion dollar Air Force contract to replace the aging fleet of Boeing-built KC-135 tankers.
Representatives from Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas also attended, EADS officials said. All nine states have Boeing operations.
Other states interested in the Airbus plant include North Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma and New Mexico, according to EADS officials.
Congress last year nullified a potential $23 billion deal with Boeing amid a growing ethics scandal that has led to guilty pleas by two top Boeing executives. The Pentagon is expected to reopen the deal to competition later this year.
About 135 people attended the informational session Tuesday at a Capitol Hill hotel, EADS officials said.
"We felt we got a very, very positive response," said Ralph Crosby, chairman and CEO of EADS North America.
Crosby called the meeting the first step in a process that should result in selection of a potential U.S. site within a year. States interested in bidding on the Airbus plant were given a March 31 deadline to submit a general plan for where the plant would be located and what advantages the site would offer, Crosby said.
avaition and economy ping
Personally, I hope Airbus doesnt build here. But the laws of capitalism demand competition. It will be interesting to see how the union members who scream about airlines buying Airbuses will act after Airbus hires them..
Word is Boeing is going to propose the 787 instead of the 767 (which may be dead long before the first tanker is ordered). If that's the case, I'm putting my full support behind a Pratt & Whitney powered EADS KC330.
WTF would we need a gold plated plastic plane for aerial refueling? Especially when large pieces are made in Japan and China.
"States interested in bidding on the Airbus plant were given a March 31 deadline to submit a general plan for where the plant would be located and what advantages the site would offer"
Let's see. Not many airports can accommodate the super pig. States lined up to spend taxpayer money to impress the Euros. Sounds like a plan to talk us into gnawing off a limb to buy something we'll never see. This will keep some state development officials in Depends for an extended period. Let the giveaways begin!
The pig will tank in a couple years and m few dollars can be made..
Whatever. That has Sweet Fanny Adams to do with a plant manufacturing Airbus 330 MRTTs
Personally, I hope Airbus doesnt build here. But the laws of capitalism demand competition. It will be interesting to see how the union members who scream about airlines buying Airbuses will act after Airbus hires them..I sure hate to see Boeing go the way of Detroit c. 1980, but ain't nothing can beat the "laws of competition." Just because M-D couldn't hack it doesn't mean that nobody else can, either, especially if already up and running on the fumes of state subsidies.
Boeing would do well to spin off a smaller, independent unit, and now.
To my untrained eye, this somehow seems like grist for a future French Presidential re-election commercial; but I freely yield to those who have a more learned picture than I.
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