Vought picks Charleston for airplane plant

Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. has selected Charleston, S.C., as the location for its proposed $400 million, 600-worker airplane parts plant, according to state officials in South Carolina.

Mobile's Brookley Industrial Complex was in the running for the plant and, with Charleston, was reportedly among two finalists considered by Vought. But Alabama and Mobile economic development officials said in late September that they withdrew from pursuit of the plant after Vought cut the number of workers it said it expected to hire.

Dallas-based Vought and its joint venture partner, Alenia Aeronautica of Italy, will build the plant on undeveloped land at the Charleston International Airport, a pair of South Carolina legislators told The State, a daily newspaper in Columbia, S.C. The plant is designed to supply fuselage sections for Boeing Co.'s proposed 7E7 Dreamliner aircraft, which will be assembled in Everett, Wash., beginning in 2006.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford scheduled an economic development announcement for today in Charleston, where he is expected to confirm Vought's decision. Sanford's office and Vought both refused to comment on the location of the plant when contacted by the Register on Tuesday.

Alabama's pursuit of the project -- conducted under the code name "Project Buffalo" -- began about a year ago, officials said. Vought initially indicated its project would generate 1,000 jobs, according to Neal Wade, director of the Alabama Development Office. When the company later cut its estimate to 600 jobs, but refused to lower its demand for tax breaks and other incentives, "we just felt like we could no longer justify it," Wade said.

"Sometimes you have to walk away from a project -- you don't like to do that, but sometimes it's in the best interest of the state," Wade said Tuesday. "We just made the decision that we were not going to win that project."

State officials, including Wade, have declined to disclose details of Alabama's offer to Vought, and the company has not answered questions about what incentives it sought.

Pay at other Vought plants is about $20 an hour for production jobs, company officials have said, well above the Mobile area's average per- hour wage of $14.47.

A source familiar with South Carolina's negotiations, but who asked that his name not be used, confirmed to The Associated Press that Vought would locate in the state, investing more than $400 million and creating as many as 900 jobs over time.

Mobile officials said Tuesday they did not regret their decision to stop recruiting the plant, even if the higher jobs figure is realized.

"Without a doubt, our team collectively made the right decision," said Bill Sisson, vice president of economic development for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce.

Sisson said the decision was made easier because of "other opportunities" that the city and state are pursuing at Brookley. Those opportunities, he said, include a pair of projects that could add 1,100 jobs at ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering Inc.

MAE, which operates an airplane repair and maintenance hub at Brookley, recently received a series of local tax breaks designed to help it compete for a $90 million aircraft engine repair and testing facility and a $50 million maintenance hub designed to service the Airbus A380, a super-sized jet that is now being tested for assembly in France.

When the incentives, worth an estimated $8.3 million, were approved by the Mobile Industrial Development Board on Nov. 17, an MAE official said decisions on the two projects were "imminent." Local officials said Tuesday they were continuing to pursue the projects but had no further comment.

Landing Vought would not necessarily have precluded the potential expansions at MAE, Sisson said. He also said that local recruiters gained valuable experience during the Vought recruitment. "Our team is at a different level of maturity right now," Sisson said.

Boeing considered sites in Mobile, Charleston and Kinston, N.C., before choosing Everett as the location for its proposed $900 million, 1,000-worker 7E7 assembly plant. Vought, which used Boeing's site selection data to guide its subsequent search for a new assembly plant location, said previously that the availability of tax breaks and other incentives would weigh heavily in its decision.

It was unclear late Tuesday how much South Carolina was prepared to offer Vought to locate in the state. South Carolina legislators earlier this year approved a bill that provides up to $50 million in bond funding for businesses that invest in a major air cargo facility.

(Register staff reporter Sallie Owen contributed to this report. )