Quick permits promised for a Boeing 777X factory

EVERETT — Four weeks. That’s how quickly state and local officials are committing to hand over permits for a new 777X facility at or near Boeing’s Paine Field factory, should the company wish to build one.

Compare that to a period of 12 to 18 months under normal circumstances.

The new time line for permits was revealed in a report submitted to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee by a task force led by Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson. The panel has wrapped up evaluation of regulatory hurdles for potential 777X manufacturing sites around the airport.

The task force found no significant obstacles for Boeing, should the company pick Snohomish County as the place to assemble an upgraded version of the popular 777, Inslee wrote in a statement emailed to the Herald.

“Winning the design and fabrication of the 777X, its composite wings and as many of its component parts as possible is Washington’s greatest economic development priority,” he wrote.

Boeing has not said where it will assemble the next version of the 777. The present model is built in Everett. The company is expected to launch the 777X this year, perhaps at the Dubai Air Show in November. A decision on the jet’s assembly location could come a few months later.

The 777X will have composite wings, like the Boeing 787. Lawmakers in Washington are anxious to secure the factory for the new wing here. In July, Inslee instructed the state Department of Commerce to designate potential 777X sites as “Projects of Statewide Significance” to help expedite permitting.

The task force identified five possible locations at Paine Field that are large enough to accommodate a wing factory. One is on the Mukilteo side of the airport, on property owned by the county, and four locations are on Boeing’s factory property in Everett, on the northeast side of the airport.

The report suggests the a wing plant might employ up to 1,100 people — an educated guess based on employment at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 787 wing plant in Japan, said Alex Pietsch, director of the Governor’s Office of Aerospace.

Stephanson and other local officials presented the task force report on Wednesday to Bill McSherry, Boeing’s director of state and local government operations for the Northwest. Although Pietsch called the meeting positive, he and Inslee acknowledge there is likely more work to be done in wooing Boeing.

“We are exploring a wide variety of initiatives designed to ensure Boeing chooses Washington for this work,” Inslee wrote in his email.

Other initiatives could be revealed after two other studies, overseen by the Washington Aerospace Partnership, are completed in late September. The partnership is collecting donations from labor groups and government to pay for the studies of the state’s competitiveness and the economic benefit of the aerospace industry.

Washington faces competition for Boeing work from southern U.S. states like South Carolina, where Boeing has a 787 assembly plant, as well as Japan.

The Seattle Times reported Thursday that Boeing will test new ways of automating 777X assembly in Anacortes. The result of that effort could sway the company to keep 777X work in Everett.

Regardless of Boeing’s decision, Snohomish County officials are laying the groundwork for an aerospace industrial park at Paine Field. Should Boeing not want the county-owned site on the west side of the airport, speedy permitting “will benefit other aerospace employers or manufacturers interested in locating in the southwest Everett-Paine Field area,” Everett Mayor Stephanson wrote to Inslee.

Pietsch called expedited permitting a model for how Washington deals with projects of significant economic impact in the future.

Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454; mdunlop@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.