Another successful Paris Air Show is in the books.
One of the great honors of this job is representing Washington state to the world. Aerospace is a key driver of our overall thriving economy, generating $70 billion annually in economic activity and supporting jobs that strengthen all of our communities. This makes the Paris Air Show one of our most important venues for international business development and exchange.
As the top state for aerospace in America – and one of the top industry clusters in the world – Washington is in the spotlight when we travel to Le Bourget, France every other year to meet with companies and potential partners from 48 countries. This year was no exception.
Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib and I served as co-leads for Washington’s largest delegation ever, and we were accompanied by Congressman Rick Larsen for the opening days. Chris Green, director of our Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness, and Robin Toth, Governor Inslee’s aerospace industry sector lead, headed up a Commerce team that put in countless hours before, during and after the actual event to ensure that the Choose Washington presence in the USA Partnership Pavilion was a stunning success. The same is true for our wonderful delegation partners; thanking every individual involved, as I would like to, would fill a book! (You can read a bit about the participating companies and organizations in the Exhibitor Directory.)
Our exhibit, themed “The State of U.S. Aerospace”, helped us celebrate and promote Washington’s multiple commercial and defense aerospace innovation and manufacturing centers. Many people don’t realize the breadth and diversity of the sector, with more than 1,400 companies and the world’s finest workforce of 136,000 talented people. Washington workers produce more aerospace exports annually than California, Texas, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Arizona and Alabama combined.
During a LaunchPad presentation sponsored by Greater Seattle Partners, Lt. Gov. Habib and I welcomed top industry analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, who enlightened the crowd on the latest Aerospace Competitive Economics Study. The comprehensive, independent research by Teal and Olympic Analytics again ranks Washington’s aerospace “supercluster” the best place to design and build aircraft. Read the 2019 Teal Report Summary.
Also featured at the LaunchPad was Roei Ganzarski, CEO of MagniX, developers of an all-electric aircraft propulsion system they plan to provide for Eviation Aircraft’s first prototype electric airplane unveiled during the show. Choose Washington delegation members AeroTEC and the Port of Moses Lake, shared in the big news: AeroTEC will test the motor, and Moses Lake was named the flight certification center for the new nine-passenger regional plane. (Read more in Geekwire.)
“Why Aviation and Aerospace Companies Should Choose Washington.” Read commentary by Congressman Larsen and Director Brown in the Daily Herald.