They did it! Mobile, AL brings
AIRBUS to the region. I have noted many times how our region along the
I-10 corridor from Mississippi to Northwest Florida will become a haven for the
aerospace industry. This is just one more reason, why it is. What
also must be noted is this announcement makes the Crestview Industrial Airpark
tops on the list for many for subcontractors of the European Aerospace Giant
AIRBUS. As many of you know, Okaloosa County and the State of Florida has
spent millions of dollars on the Crestview Airport so it can land the largest
aircrafts in the world, which it already has done from the U. S. Air Forces’
C-5A military to Russian’s equilivant of the C-5A. Great job to Okaloosa
County and the State for some foresight. STAY TUNED. More
announcements on the way.
1,000 new jobs coming to Mobile with
Airbus
Staff and wire reports
MOBILE, Ala. — European
aerospace giant Airbus will start building planes in Mobile, Ala., planting its
first factory on U.S. soil and aiming to compete better against archrival
Boeing. Airbus, based in France, said it plans to employ 1,000 people at the
plant building its A320s, delivering the first one in 2016. Bay County Economic
Development Alliance Executive Director Neal Wade was on hand for the deal’s announcement
in Mobile. “It was fantastic,” Wade said. “It will be a boost for the entire
region.” Wade said with the Northwest Florida Beaches International
Airport and an abundant amount of buildable property, Bay County could become
more attractive to aerospace businesses. Economic officials have touted the
Interstate 10 corridor from Mississippi to Northwest Florida as a future
aerospace corridor. Airbus cranks out more than 400 A320s a year, more than any of
its other planes. It competes headto-head with Boeing’s 737. Those planes are
the minivans of the airline world: Widely-used people haulers generally flown
on short and medium-haul trips. North America is the biggest single market for
that type of plane, Airbus executives said, and they want more of it. Right
now, Boeing’s 737 has an advantage, with Southwest and Alaska Airlines buying
only 737s. “We needed to be visible in the States under the Airbus flag,”
Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Bregier said. Current A320 customers include
US Airways Group Inc. and Frontier Airlines, and American Airlines gave Airbus
a coup when it ordered 260 A320s last year. Airbus parent European Aeronautic
Defense and Space Co. had planned to build a new U.S. Air Force refueling
tanker in Alabama but lost the bid to Boeing last year. EADS shares have been
climbing on European markets since news of the Alabama deal surfaced last week.
Airbus said sections of the plane will be built at its other factories and
shipped to the port in Mobile, where they will be trucked to the new assembly
line. The line itself will be a carbon copy of other Airbus lines, reducing
startup expenses, the company said. Other big manufacturers have found homes in
the South. Boeing assembles 787s in North Charleston, S.C., and Alabama is home
to plants owned by Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota. The dean of the
business school at the University of South Alabama, Carl Moore, said attracting
a company like Airbus could have a transforming effect on Alabama like
Mercedes-Benz had when it picked Alabama for its first American assembly plant
in 1993. “It’s a prestige name that’s internationally known,” Dean Carl
C. Moore of the University of South Alabama said. With cars, building them
close to where they’re sold cuts a significant part of the cost of delivering
them to the showroom floor. That cost is minimal for airplanes, because they
can be delivered anywhere in the world within a few hours for the cost of a
tank of jet fuel. So building close to customers doesn’t hold the same
advantages for Airbus as it would for, say, Nissan. Airbus already employs
about 1,000 people in the U.S., including about 230 in Mobile who design and
install interior items, such as seats and cabin equipment for its big planes.
No comments:
Post a Comment