Published: Thursday, May 9, 2013, 5:49 p.m.

"We need to prove hands down (Washington) is the place to build this airplane," Inslee said.

Inslee's plan is aimed not only at swaying Boeing's 777X decision but also at shaping the state aerospace industry for decades to come. If successful, the initiative would boost 1,250 aerospace-related companies in the state that are suppliers to Boeing, the governor said.

The 777X is the code name for the next generation of Boeing's hot-selling, Everett-built 777, the company's second-biggest jetliner. Boeing has not formally launched the 777X program, but customers are being signed and the updated plane is seen as strategically crucial to counter the comparable Airbus A350-1000, which is in development. Boeing has said it is agnostic, for now, as to where the 777X might be designed and assembled.

At an event at the Future of Flight Aviation Center here adjacent to Paine Field and near the Boeing factory, Inslee outlined steps to make Washington more attractive to aerospace companies, including:

"Designing and assembling the next generation of Boeing's twin-aisle, twin-engine workhorse in Washington will mean that our engineers and machinists are on the cutting edge of the commercial aviation industry for decades to come," Drewel said in a news release.

Washington's aerospace industry is the envy of the nation, said Maud Daudon, president of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of the Aerospace Partnership. That's why it's important the state send Boeing and the aerospace industry the right message.

"Everybody wants these jobs," she said. "Our competition is watching."

Of late, the state's biggest domestic rival has been South Carolina, where Boeing added a second 787 final-assembly line in recent years. That state's legislature approved $120 million in incentives this month in exchange for a pledge from Boeing for $1 billion in investment and 2,000 new jobs over the next eight years.

Inslee's plan doesn't dangle tax incentives like South Carolina's, though Washington gave up more $3.2 billion in incentives to land the original 787 assembly line in 2003. But Boeing hasn't indicated it needs specific incentives like that, the governor said. Instead, he believes, the transportation and education initiatives before the Legislature will be key to winning the 777X.

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Inslee’s aerospace plan: Land the 777X