The lure of such improvements certainly figures to strengthen the number of companies heading to the Southeast states. And the multi-modal allure of four sites in four of those states under final review by Airbus parent company European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) for a $600-million, 1,150-worker assembly plant figures to move even the eventual runners-up to corporate short lists.
      "After careful evaluation, four locations emerged as the sites most capable of meeting the transportation, personnel and manufacturing demands of large military aircraft assembly," said Ralph D. Crosby, Jr., EADS North America's Chairman and CEO, in early May. Picked from some 70 locations in 32 states, the finalists were Brookley Field Industrial Complex in Mobile, Ala.; Stennis International Airport near Kiln, Miss.; Charleston International Airport in Charleston, S.C.; and Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Fla.
      "The Southeast was not a target as opposed to other regions — it just worked out that way," says Guy Hicks, spokesperson for EADS North America.
      EADS requires a 9,000-ft. runway, space for a 1.5-million-sq.-ft. (139,350-sq.-m.) complex, an experienced work force and access to both a deep-water port and a university with a strong aerospace engineering program. The selection process was managed by The Staubach Company. A decision on the location for the military aerial refueling tanker facility was due to be made by June 22.
      The background hum for the entire site selection is coming from Washington, D.C., where the White House and Congress have been involved in internal debate and external debate with Europe about their relative subsidization of aerospace companies EADS and Boeing. U.S. Trade Rep. Rob Portman officially brought a case against the EU to the World Trade Organization in May. But if EADS officials are concerned, they have no reason to be worried in Alabama, as powerful officials from the governor to the U.S. Congress have expressed their support.
      EADS' case for U.S.-made content may be bolstered by a separate development: According to reports in May in The Wall Street Journal, the company has reached an agreement on tanker assembly with Northrop Grumman Corp.
      In terms of proximity to candidate locations, Northrop Grumman has existing operations at Melbourne, Fla., and Pascagoula, Miss., the latter a recently expanded ship systems site located closer to Brookley in Mobile than the Mississippi candidate site at Stennis Space Center, near New Orleans.
      "Mobile and Melbourne are the leading candidates," said Prof. Darryl Jenkins, visiting professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., in an interview a week before the EADS deadline. He said the rumored partnership between EADS and Northrop Grumman gave Melbourne more staying power in his estimation, since the latter company already has operations on the ground there. But hanging over any chosen site is the long-term political battle facing the European company.
      "EADS is not well-liked on Capitol Hill," he observed from his nearby Virginia home, "and Boeing does not want to lose this."