Electra today announced plans to establish its first production facility for the EL9 Ultra Short in the City of Springfield, within Clark County, Ohio.
The USD850 million investment will create 1,975 new jobs, anchor production of the EL9 Ultra Short, and help meet demand for direct aviation, a new category of accessible, point-to-point air mobility, said the company in a press release. “The EL9 Ultra Short is a nine-passenger fixed-wing aircraft that uses hybrid-electric propulsion and blown-lift technology to take off and land in as little as 150 feet. The new facility will be located at AirPark Ohio, adjacent to Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport.”
Electra selected the site following a year-long competitive national site-selection process that evaluated more than 140 potential locations. Criteria included workforce availability, infrastructure readiness, long-term expansion capacity, state and local partnership, incentives, and proximity to the aerospace, defence, and advanced manufacturing talent needed to support EL9 Ultra Short production.
The new 96-acre facility will house production of the EL9 Ultra Short. The initial phase of development will start immediately with design, while construction of the facility will begin next year, said Electra. The initial phase will support capacity for up to 400 aircraft per year. A second phase of development will expand capacity to up to 800 aircraft per year.
“The company chose the Dayton-Springfield region because it offers advanced air mobility (AAM) companies a combination of assets found nowhere else in the country,” said the company. “Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport is home to the National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence (NAAMCE) and SkyVision, the FAA-approved ground-based detect-and-avoid system that enables beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight testing in unrestricted airspace, which allows companies to move from concept to flight test faster than anywhere else in the nation. That infrastructure is complemented by growing AAM production near Dayton International Airport and the region’s proximity to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), which together form one of the deepest concentrations of aerospace R&D talent in the world.”
An incentive package is being designed to support hundreds of new Ohio jobs over the coming years as Electra scales production in the region. The project will pursue a Job Creation Tax Credit from the Ohio Department of Development at a future Tax Credit Authority meeting. JobsOhio also plans to provide assistance with the project, which will be made public after a final agreement is executed.
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(Image: Electra selects Springfield, OH for its first production facility for the EL9 Ultra Short, ushering in a new era of air mobility known as Direct Aviation. Credit: Electra)