S.C. keeps eye on aviation jobs

While industry hunters from the state Commerce Department were stalking potential game at the 48th Paris Air Show last week, editorial writers in the Boeing-obsessed Northwest were fretting over losing aviation jobs to the Southeast — South Carolina, specifically.

The Seattle Times, calling for a truce in the "ritual combat" that breaks out during labor talks between Boeing and its Aerospace Machinists Union, urged the two sides to get on the same page and avoid damaging walkouts at all costs. Otherwise, their region could risk losing a likely new 787 production line, possibly to the Lowcountry, where major portions of the new-age passenger jet are already being made.

"Aircraft assembly creates the kind of blue-collar jobs South Carolina would roll over and play dead for. For the Puget Sound region, these jobs cannot be replaced," the editorial intoned.

"Specifically, the issue is whether the next 787 line will be in Everett or in Charleston. Very likely, there will be a second line in one place or the other, and in order to get it up and running by 2012, a commitment will have to be made before the end of this year. Property will be purchased or space leased, permits applied for, managers assigned. The ball gets rolling within the next few months."

The Charleston region scored quite high a few years back when Boeing was scouring the countryside for a site to assemble the lightweight 787 Dreamliner, which essentially is the world's first outsourced commercial aircraft.

While the company eventually picked its longtime manufacturing base of Everett, Wash., for the plant, the Lowcountry later landed two consolation prizes from that search process: side-by-side factories at Charleston International Airport that house 787 fuselage suppliers, Vought Aircraft and Global Aeronautica LLC.

Boeing has since acquired a 50 percent stake in the latter, giving it a small but long-term foothold in the region. It's fair bet that one key reason the Commerce delegation led by Jack Ellenberg, deputy secretary for new investment, flew across the pond to the air show this year to see about expanding the aerospace giant's local presence. The state's low unionization rate would certainly be part of any pitch.

Not that the existing 787 operation in North Charleston is free and clear of labor issues. In a notable victory for the union movement in South Carolina, Vought production workers agreed to organize.

The speculation about the need for a second production line to meet demand for the hot-selling Dreamliner coincides with the launch of the jet's long-delayed inaugural test flight, which could take place as early as this week.

What keeps the business boosters in Seattle sleepless are comments from the likes of Virgin Atlantic's brash billionaire boss Richard Branson, who was quoted on TV last year as saying: "If people in Seattle build our planes and deliver them on time and, to be frank, don't go on strike, then we'll continue to work with Boeing. If we have our airline completely messed up, with tremendous damage done to our own work force, then we'll go to Embraer or Airbus."

Or North Charleston, perhaps.