ROCKFORD, IL-Boeing Corp. had whittled down possible sites for the production of its new 777X jetliner to the single digits and one of the finalists was a site here.
The Chicago-based aerospace firm had fielded proposals from 54 sites across the country and Rockford was believed to be among the finalists before it decided to house the plant in Seattle after a recent machinists union vote approved a new contract with concessions, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
David Roeder, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, said that Boeing had reduced the potential aircraft production plant sites down to the single digits, perhaps as few as five, and that Rockford was in the mix.
The Rockford site met Boeing's needs, he said, for example Boeing required a 300 acre-site; the Rockford site is 400 acres. The firm wanted a 9,000-foot runway adjacent to an airport, and the site has a 10,000-foot runway. The site also offered sufficient rail and highway access, Roeder said.
“It has a very substantial workforce, a large and active aviation and aerospace industry there that uses job training programs already set up locally,” Roeder said. “In a lot of ways this property was just tailor-made for something as significant as what Boeing was planning to do.” See story in the Chicago Sun-Times.
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