Another Areospace Company Moves to North Carolina

Honda Aero Incorporated is moving its headquarters and manufacturing operations to Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport.

July 18, 2007

ALAMANCE COUNTY NC NEWS -- Honda Aero Incorporated is moving its headquarters, to include its manufacturing operations, from Reston, Virginia to the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport in Alamance County, North Carolina. Honda Aero Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Co. Ltd., will produce the new HondaJet engine at the new plant. Honda Aero Inc., is the second subsidiary of Honda Motor Company that has decided to move to North Carolina. The Honda Aero project, was made possible in part by a Job Development Investment Grant, and will invest $27 million creating 70 jobs over the next five years. The 70 new jobs will be mainly management and production positions, and while pay will vary by job function and skill, the average yearly wage for the new jobs will exceed $62,000, not including benefits. That is nearly double the Alamance County average of $31,300.

Governor Easley speaking of Honda Aero's decision to choose North Carolina said: "When innovative, world-leading companies such as Honda Aero choose to locate in North Carolina, it proves we are still first in flight more than a century after the Wright brothers took off from Kitty Hawk. We will continue to make the smart investments in education and worker training that attract great companies and great jobs for the working families of this state."

Earlier in February, Honda Aircraft Company Inc., a separate subsidiary of Honda Motor Company, announced it will build the HondaJet plane at Piedmont Triad International Airport as well as establishing its headquarters in Guilford County. That project calls for an investment of up to $100 million and the creation of 283 jobs over the next five years.

The state's Economic Investment Committee voted unanimously to award the JDIG grant to the Honda Aero project. Making this the 63rd JDIG award announced since the Governor and General Assembly started the program in 2002. Furthermore, the Honda Aero project the eighth JDIG grant awarded this year. Under the terms of the 12-year agreement, the N.C. Department of Commerce estimates the project will:

• Generate a cumulative gross product value of about $333.7 million.
• Produce a positive, cumulative net state revenue impact of almost $11.46 million.
• Contribute up to $317,000 to the state's Industrial Development Fund for infrastructure improvements in rural and economically distressed areas of North Carolina. This contribution is required of grant recipients that locate in more prosperous counties.

For each year the company meets the required performance targets, the state will provide a grant equal to 75 percent of the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs. Should the company create the jobs called for under the agreement and sustain them for 12 years, the agreement could yield as much as $1.76 million in maximum benefits for Honda Aero.

The two Honda Aircraft projects are not the only areospace industry expansion in North Carolina this year. Another company, The London-based Smiths Aerospace also expanded its turbine engine components manufacturing facility in Buncombe County, creating 200 jobs and investing $16 million over the next three years. That project also included a One North Carolina Fund grant for $400,000. This was Smiths Aerospace's second expansion in the past 18 months. In addition to turbine engine components, Smiths Aerospace is also an international manufacturer and supplier of aircraft electronics and mechanical systems. The company has manufacturing facilities in Asheville and West Jefferson that now employ 387 workers.

Job Development Investment Grants are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant. Since the first grant was awarded in 2003, the program has been responsible for creating more than 20,000 jobs and $3 billion in investment in North Carolina.

Partners who helped make the Honda Aero project possible include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community College System, N.C. Department of Transportation, the Burlington-Alamance Airport Authority, Alamance County, the City of Burlington, Duke Energy as well as Alamance County State Senator Tony Foriest and House Representative Alice Bordsen.

Published by:
Rob Cross
mailto:editor@357news.com

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