A Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft at the Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, southern England, on July 9, 2012. (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/GettyImages)
Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- Governor Nikki Haley says South Carolina is all the attracting a lot of positive attention at the Farnborough International Air Show.
"South Carolina continues to be the buzz because of Boeing and that's a good thing," said Haley on an international conference call with reporters.
Haley says members of the South Carolina delegation have attend about 50 meetings with new companies creating new connections. Haley says she's attend about a third of those meetings.
"We are talking about the fact that South Carolina is the new 'it' state. We are the state that everybody is talking about because we focus on businesses having profit margins, we focus on a workforce that's already well trained and it's getting stronger and we're focused on being on of the lowest unionized states in the country and those are all great points for what the aerospace industry is looking like it also helps that we have a strong military presence in South Carolina, as we continue to see aerospace is not only commercial but there's a strong military aspect to it that's continuing to do well," said Haley. She says she's seen double the number of governors attending the event than last year, working to recruit business to their states.
While they have no official deals in the books yet, Haley says the face-to-face meetings with CEOs help establish a relationship with companies. The commerce department will follow up on these new contacts and work to seal deals for the state.
Haley says the state's delegation took fewer people and spent less money for this air show trip. She also says they used more private dollars.
Haley is expected to return to South Carolina tomorrow.