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Boeing workers in Washington State voted late Friday to approve an eight-year contract extension, ensuring that the company's new 777X aircraft will be made in the Puget Sound region instead of another state.

The vote was close, with 51 percent of workers in favor of the contract, according to the union representing the workers, the International Association of Machinists. Local union leaders had encouraged workers to reject the contract because, they said, it had too many concessions on retirement and health care benefits.

Workers rejected a similar contract offer in November, 33 percent to 67 percent. But many workers became worried after Boeing received proposals from other states to build the 777X.

On Friday, Boeing officials said they were pleased by the vote and proud to be building the aircraft in Washington State.

"Thanks to this vote by our employees, the future of Boeing in the Puget Sound region has never looked brighter," Ray Conner, the president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement.

Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, a Democrat, thanked the workers for taking "a hard vote that demands the respect of all Washingtonians who will benefit from having Boeing build the 777X here."

After the vote, local union officials reiterated their opposition to the contract offer, but said they accepted the workers' decision. "It's up to all of us now to pull together to make this airplane program successful," Tom Wroblewski, president of Machinists Union District Lodge 751, said in a statement.

The union represents more than 30,000 workers at the Boeing plants in Puget Sound. Boeing had promised that if the workers approved the contract, the company would put final assembly of the 777X in the region, as well as fabrication of the aircraft's wings.

The 777 is a long-range, twin-aisle aircraft that carries about 365 passengers. The new 777X model would be about one-fifth more fuel-efficient and carry up to 400 passengers.

Washington State, where the 777 is assembled, has promised Boeing $8.7 billion in tax breaks for putting the final assembly of the 777X in the state.