Shifting 777X work to St. Louis will help Boeing reinforce its industrial and political presence in an area hit hard by the downturn in U.S. military spending, said Richard Aboulafia, analyst with the Virginia-based Teal Group.

He said the decision also reflected Boeing's desire to build more commercial parts in-house after it ran into quality and schedule problems with 787 parts made by outside suppliers. "This will reduce risk on commercial jet programs," he said.

Aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group expressed skepticism Saturday that Boeing would choose a greenfield site — a completely new location with no experience of airplane manufacturing. “That’s just really a bad idea,” said Aboulafia. “You are adding multiple layers of risk both in terms of workforce and infrastructure.”

“There’s no economic argument that I can think of for leaving Puget Sound,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group, a Fairfax, Va.-based consultant. The 777X is hugely important to Boeing’s future in the commercial airplane industry, where it faces competition now from Airbus with Russia and China looking to get more market share in the next decade, experts say.

After formally unveiling the plane on the opening day of the Dubai Air Show, Boeing announced airline orders for the 777-8X and 777-9X worth nearly $100 billion at list price. After Boeing’s experience with the 787, which saw three years of delay before the first delivery, the company’s margin of error for delivering the 777X is “between zero and none,” Aboulafia said. Everett and Puget Sound offer the least production risk, noting its trained workforce, developed infrastructure and state support, and none of that is going to change in three months, he said.