COLUMBUS 4 Ohio cities in hunt for Boeing

All of them lack the seaport that Boeing seeks for its new aircraft plant.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
COLUMBUS -- Four areas in Ohio have submitted proposals for a new Boeing Co. aircraft plant that would bring in as many as 1,200 jobs, the state Development Department said.
The Mahoning Valley, Dayton, Toledo and Columbus have submitted proposals, said the department's director, Bruce Johnson. The cities submitted the proposals to the department, which will submit them to Boeing.
The plant would be for Boeing's new midsize 7E7 jet. It would be Boeing's first all-new plane since the 777. Ohio may be at a disadvantage, compared with some of the other states in the running, because the company wants access to a 24-hour seaport, which Ohio does not have.
Boeing spokeswoman Mary Hanson would not say whether lack of a deep-water port eliminates Ohio from the running.
Johnson said the cities would try to work around anything they lack, but they have limits to how much they can spend to try and win the plant.
"You run after these things hard and you work as hard as you can," Johnson said, "but you also have to have a realistic perspective."
At least 10 other states are bidding for the plant.
Paring the list
Boeing will use a 27-page questionnaire to narrow the list of possible sites. The company wants responses by June 20 and plans to decide on a site by year's end.
Other states reportedly working on proposals include Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Texas, Indiana, Kansas, Illinois, Georgia, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
Boeing also may keep the plant in the Seattle area, where it has built airplanes since 1916. It moved its corporate headquarters to Chicago in 2001. The company has said the new plant needs access to a 24-hour port, rail lines, and highways capable of handling heavy loads. It also needs a suitable runway.
Industry pressure
Now that the Chicago-based aerospace giant has unveiled plans to build a super-efficient jet, the pressure is on to follow through.
Details about the 7E7 jetliner, scheduled to enter service in 2008, are expected to be the talk of the Paris Air Show, which begins this weekend.
But a bigger buzz at the show might be whether the plane will be built at all.
Two earlier Boeing efforts to build all-new planes have flopped. And Boeing's last truly new commercial jet, the popular 777, entered service eight years ago.
If Boeing eventually backs away from the 7E7, "they are putting the world on notice that they will never build another jetliner again," said Richard Aboulafia, director of aviation at the Teal Group, a consulting firm in Fairfax, Va.
Because of its two flops, competition from Paris-based Airbus and declining orders throughout the commercial jetliner industry, the stakes are high for Boeing to go forward with the 7E7.
Falling revenues
Revenues at Boeing's commercial airplane unit have fallen for the past several years, hit hard by the economic slowdown and the fallout from Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Boeing expects to deliver about 280 jets this year and 275 in 2004. Those figures are down from 381 planes in 2002 and 527 jets in 2001. The decline has led to the elimination of more than 30,000 jobs since September 2001.
Airbus is aiming for about 300 annual deliveries and could surpass Boeing for the first time ever.
Boeing officials say they are committed to developing the new wide-bodied 7E7, which will have between 200 and 250 seats.