AIRPLANE INDUSTRY Boeing team advises building 7E7 Dreamliner in Everett, Wash.

The company isn't saying whether it has settled on a site recommendation.
STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
SEATTLE -- A Boeing Co. executive team has concluded that the 7E7 Dreamliner commercial jet should be assembled in Everett, The Seattle Times reported in a copyright story Friday.
Everett, where Boeing now builds its entire widebody line of 747s, 767s and 777s, was chosen over Kinston, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; and Mobile, Ala., The Times reported, citing an unidentified insider familiar with the team and its eight-month nationwide search.
Hopes for the Valley
Mahoning Valley officials, earlier in the site search process, had hoped Boeing would construct a new plant at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport for production of the plane.
Thomas Downey, vice president of communications for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, would not comment on the report.
"No decision [on where to assemble the plane] has been made, and no decision will be made until the results of our site evaluation are fully vetted with our board of directors," Downey told The Times.
State representatives from the Mahoning Valley had urged Gov. Bob Taft to offer Boeing an incentive package to build a plant in the area. Local officials also met twice in Howland this summer and discussed strategies to lure Boeing to the Valley.
The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber prepared a proposal about the Valley for Boeing. The company responded with a package that included criteria that officials were looking for in a location.
According to the Times article, the executive team's evaluation was prepared for a Dec. 15 meeting of Boeing's board of directors at corporate headquarters in Chicago and for review by the company's new chief executive, Harry C. Stonecipher, who visited Seattle on Wednesday.
CEO's resignation
Stonecipher's visit followed close on the heels of the resignation of Philip M. Condit as Boeing CEO amid concern over the methods the company used to secure a lucrative Pentagon contract for Air Force tankers using the 767 airframe.
Assembling the 7E7 in Everett, about 25 miles north of Seattle, would save thousands of jobs in the Puget Sound area, though the number of direct Boeing jobs would be relatively small because more work is being subcontracted than on aircraft the company now makes.
Higher costs
In an analysis of taxes, transportation, facilities, equipment and labor at each site, Everett had higher costs than the other sites in every category except facilities, according to The Times.
Nonetheless, Everett remained competitive because of a $3.2 billion state incentive package.
That package cut the estimated advantage of Kinston -- the lowest-cost site, according to the report -- to roughly $300 million over 20 years out of a total development cost pegged at $7 billion to $10 billion.