COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina lost its bid for a $600 million Airbus facility in North Charleston largely because a few miles separated the land where a plant would be built and port facilities, the state top economic development officer said Wednesday.

"We were in the finals," Commerce Secretary Bob Faith said after getting the news Wednesday. "You can't win them all. We tried like heck - this one just didn't work out."

An Airbus official told him that the South Carolina offering was great, but "you can't compete with a little bit better geography," Faith said.

The winner, Mobile, Ala., had land next to airport and seaport facilities that would receive parts shipments from Europe. At the Mobile site, parts could move directly from the port to the plant, Fair said. The North Charleston site was a couple of miles from Charleston's port facilities.

With more than 70 sites competing, "it's a lot like the NCAA tournament," South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said. "The law of averages says if you keep making the Final Four, you're going to bring home your share of championships."

Sanford called the decision a loss for the state. But he said South Carolina had won in December when Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. and Global Aeronautica, LLC, agreed to build a $560 million plant in North Charleston that will employ about 640 people.

Faith said winning the aircraft parts plant last year did not work against South Carolina in efforts to land the Airbus facility and the up to 1,000 jobs that could be created if the company gets part of a military contract to manufacture refueling tankers.

Instead, the plant being built jointly by Vought and Alenia North America Inc. actually made it more likely the state would win the Airbus project because it would have joined a cluster of similar businesses, Faith said.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin said the governor and commerce secretary didn't put enough effort into winning the facility, ending with a lackluster showing to Airbus officials last week in Paris.

Faith said the state did everything it needed to do. "They can say what they want to say. We think we had a great team in Paris," Faith said.

And that was backed up by South Carolina's U.S. Senate and House members trying to land the deal in Washington. "It was truly a bipartisan effort," Faith said.

Faith says he think the company had made up its mind before the state's last pitch in Paris.

"Criticizing our state's efforts is like saying you shouldn't renew a basketball coach's contract because he made the Final Four three straight times, but only brought home one national championship," Sanford spokesman Will Folks said.