Two big bets pay off with Dreamliner rollout

THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Last updated: July 10th, 2007 01:20 AM (PDT)

Two huge bets are embodied in the jet that was rolled out of its hangar to international applause Sunday.

By far, the largest wager was Boeing’s. Prior to the 787, it hadn’t produced a new commercial aircraft design since 1990. Its aggressive European rival, Airbus, was poised to take Boeing’s place as the world’s dominant manufacturer of airliners.

Airbus made a bet of its own: on the monstrous, double-deck A380 Superjumbo, which can carry as many as 853 passengers.

Boeing believed that airlines would want a smaller, more versatile and economical jet. It bet the future of its commercial aircraft division on the 787 – and won. Airbus has been struggling to sell its Superjumbo. The 787, in stark contrast, has been ordered in larger numbers – 677 planes by Sunday’s rollout – than any other preproduction jetliner.

Washington State has won a big bet, too. Gov. Gary Locke and the Legislature put $3.2 billion in tax incentives and infrastructure improvements on the table in 2003, after the Boeing asked Washington and other states what they were willing to offer in exchange for the Dreamliner plant.

Locke and the Legislature also took various other steps to address complaints Boeing had about the state’s business climate and snarled highways: The nickel gas tax of 2003 was one such response. The package succeeded in snagging the 787 production line.

Even at this early date, the payoffs have been many. Dreamliner production – along with orders for other jets – have expanded the payrolls of Boeing and its Washington contractors.

Pierce County is getting its share of the benefits. Boeing’s plant at Frederickson is producing the jet’s vertical fin; all other major components of the plane have been farmed out to contractors in other parts of the country and world.

Trying to quantify the state’s benefits in relation to the incentives it offered is beside the point. Much of that $3.2 billion would never have been collected if the 787 hadn’t been built here, so it’s hardly money lost.

More important, the 787, with its composite fiber construction and advanced engineering, is where commercial jets will be going in decades to come. It represents the future. With the 787 about to come off the assembly line in Everett, that future is firmly anchored in Washington state. The 2003 Legislature’s big bet is likely to be paying off for a long time to come.

Originally published: July 10th, 2007 01:20 AM (PDT)