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Aerospace race is real, state leaders warn

By Jerry Cornfield Herald Writer

EVERETT -- Matt Yerbic is bullish on aerospace in Washington, but that has not deterred people in other states from courting one of the owners of Everett-based Aviation Technical Services.

And the offers are pretty darn good.

"They say we will build you a building for nothing, we will train your workers for nothing," said Yerbic, the firm's chief executive officer, at the Governor's Aerospace Summit Wednesday at Comcast Arena.

The 1,200 workers of ATS repair, maintain and overhaul jetliners at Paine Field and in Moses Lake.

"Every single region of the country is knocking on doors like ours to say, 'Think about us,'" he said. "What we have seen, we were a little bit taken aback by."

Other states and regions are aggressive, Yerbic surmised, because they want what Washington has: an industry of 1,350 companies in 36 of the state's 39 counties employing 132,500 people. Collectively, the industry accounted for 11 percent of gross business income in Washington in 2012, according to a statewide analysis released Tuesday.

Yerbic's comments didn't surprise anyone. Rather, he was one of many during the two-day conference who called for Washington's elected leaders to realize that the state must compete or risk seeing companies depart. Not the least of those firms is the Boeing Co., which could, many fear, choose another state in which to design and build the next generation of the popular 777.

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Aerospace race is real, state leaders warn