(MOBILE, Ala.) The state of Alabama is in negotiations with Airbus. That's what Gov. Robert Bentley is saying. There has been speculation that Airbus wants to build an assembly plant in the U.S. and Mobile is at the top of the list. From what the Governor is saying, it looks like the chances of that happening are getting better.
"We are working, as we speak at the present time, we have people who are meeting in New Orleans right now, today. And we continue to work with Airbus and EADS," Gov. Robert Bentley said.
As LOCAL 15 News first reported weeks ago, Airbus has all but decided to build an aircraft assembly plant on U.S. soil. The question is: Where? Tonight, the state of Alabama is apparently in negotiations with Airbus/EADS.
"What we believe is that we feel if this continues to progress, that we're gonna get some good results," Bentley said.
For close to a decade, Mobile has been working to land the hub of a new aerospace corridor along the Gulf Coast. Brookley Field is tailor made for an assembly plant, although the tanker contract was hijacked to the northwest, Airbus knows Mobile's nest is feathered.
"We have an excellent relationship with them," Mobile Mayor Sam Jones. "We talk to them constantly. They have not been in a position to say, 'We are going to put our plant in Mobile.'"
They could be close. Incentives have been set aside by the state, and the city of Mobile.
One key to this negotiations is the upcoming elections in France. Like the tanker negotiations, moving jobs out of the country is a big question right now in France, where Airbus is headquartered.
