Washington delegation soaring at Paris Air Show 2019
DAY 1: Washington state’s largest delegation ever to the International Paris Air Show completed a whirlwind opening day at the world’s largest gathering of the aerospace industry held every other year in Le Bourget, France. U.S. Congressman Rick Larsen, Lt Governor Cyrus Habib and Dr. Lisa Brown presided over the ceremonial ribbon-cutting at the Choose Washington booth this morning in the USA Partnership Pavilion, Hall 3, A82.
As always, the 80-member delegation from the #1 state for aerospace design and manufacturing hit the ground running for a full day of more than 100 business meetings with international companies.
State officials and company leaders are showcasing the deep and diverse assets of Washington’s aerospace industry supply chain, including over 1,400 businesses and a workforce of 136,000 that builds nearly 90% of the commercial aircraft produced in North America.
According to the 2019 update to the Aerospace Competitive Economics Study, a state-by-state, data-driven ranking by the independent Teal Group and Olympic Analytics, Washington again far outpaces all competitors as the best place to design and build aircraft. In addition to being well ahead of the next closest state overall (Ohio), Washington gained the #1 position over North Carolina in the “costs” category. Read the 2019 Teal Report Summary.
“Aerospace companies want to be in Washington because we have the most highly-skilled and productive workforce in the industry,” said Rick Bender, co-chair of the Choose Washington NMA Council and former head of the Washington State Labor Council. “The workforce here is a major advantage to aerospace companies.”
Today companies met with Bombardier, Alestis, Norsk Titanium, ThyssenKrupp and others, while delegation leaders connected with SpiritAerosystems, Boeing, G.E. aviation, Thales and AeroTech. Tomorrow’s agenda is also jam-packed, including international powerhouses Safran, a French multinational maker of aircraft and rocket engines and components; Aircraft Philipp, a German manufacturer and Boeing supplier of precision metal components and assemblies, and Stelia, a manufacturer based in Toulouse, France, whose parent company is Airbus Group.
Follow the Choose Washington delegation at the Paris Air Show on twitter and Facebook @WAStateCommerce. Get the delegation directory and learn more about Washington’s aerospace and space sectors at http://choosewashingtonstate.com/why-washington/our-key-sectors/aerospace/.