Official Says Missouri Was Poised to Win 777X
March 6, 2014
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According to a senior economic development official in St. Louis, the Boeing Company was poised to announce that St. Louis would build the 777X if Machinists in the Pacific Northwest voted to reject a multi-year contract extension on January 3, 2014.
In an article published this week in the Puget Sound Business Journal, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership CEO Denny Coleman described multiple high-level meetings with Boeing officials to address infrastructure and real estate issues related to a new plane factory.
While the Boeing officials would not confirm rankings in the 22-state bidding war, California and Missouri were considered by many to be finalists for the 777X if members of District 751 voted to reject the contract proposal.
“There was never any direct statement from the company. We knew from the reaction we were getting from the site visits that we were extremely competitive,” said Coleman in the Business Journal article. “We knew we had an extremely competitive proposal. While we were never told of a ranking, we knew the real estate we were putting on the table that was available could have handled the wing development, and the entire package was right next to the airport runway.”
On the night of the January 3 vote, a team of Boeing officials was in St. Louis and scheduled to meet with city officials the next morning. Following the announcement of the vote results, the Boeing team cancelled the meeting and returned to Seattle.
