The Jacksonville Aviation Authority ended the mystery over the identity of “Project Bluebird” by revealing Otto Aviation is the company that could build Jacksonville’s first passenger plane manufacturing plant and also relocate its headquarters from Texas.
The company would create at least 400 jobs at an average $90,000 salary at the airport by the end of 2031 and could expand to 1,200 jobs by 2040. It would build more than 600,000 square feet of new office and manufacturing space by Jan. 1, 2032 for its Phantom 3500 business jet that currently is in the design and testing stage.
“They’re telling us, most likely, they’ll move the entire headquarters operation to Cecil Airport,” Jacksonville Aviation Authority CEO Mark VanLoh said May 19 after the authority approved a financial package for Otto Aviation.
Otto Aviation uses “laminar flow technology” that reduces air drag on the plane while it’s flying so it’s more fuel-efficient, according to a company video that played at the board meeting. Among other features of the design, the Phantom 3500 doesn’t have passenger windows to smooth the flow of air across the jet’s body.
State law allows companies to invoke confidentiality while they are engaged in the negotiation and approval of financial incentives. Otto Aviation, which is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, released the aviation authority from the confidentiality agreement.
VanLoh said the recent expansion of the Boeing campus at Cecil Airport helped Jacksonville rise to the top during Otto Aviation’s national search because it showed Jacksonville can supply the workforce for plane manufacturing.
“We’re a Navy town,” VanLoh said. “We’ve got a lot of retired Navy mechanics who are still 35 years old and we have the availability to make this project successful. And it didn’t hurt we had hundreds of acres ready to go. Many airports in the United States do not have the amount of square footage we have available.”
If Jacksonville and the state of Florida are successful at landing the company, it would mark the second time in a year that an aviation firm has picked Florida for a passenger plane plant.
French electric plane maker Aura Aero announced last October it will build an assembly plant at Daytona Beach International Airport that could create 1,030 jobs.
Otto Aviation would join Boeing and others at Cecil Airport
The Jacksonville Aviation Authority met just three days after a fire broke out May 16 at a Jacksonville International Airport parking garage, shutting down the airport for several hours that day and damaging the garage to the point that it will be closed indefinitely.
While Jacksonville International Airport handles commercial airlines and is the city’s best-known airport, Cecil Airport is a former Navy airfield that caters to companies that support the aviation industry such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Hermeus, Flightstar, LSI and Million Air among others.
Cecil Airport has four runways, including the third-longest in the state of Florida. The company formerly known as Project Bluebird would be one of Cecil Airport’s biggest tenants.
Otto Aviation is considered a start-up in the aviation industry but has already gained recognition for technology that reduces drag on a plane so it has better fuel efficiency, said Jay Cunio, chief development officer for the aviation authority.
“They have assembled a very impressive team, both at the leadership level and the engineers, that are well-respected within the industry,” he said.
Jacksonville City Council member Nick Howland, who is council’s liaison to the aviation authority, said it’s a “fantastic project.” He said JAX Chamber, which helps recruit new businesses, does a good job vetting prospects and the company has strong financial backing to carry out its planned investment and hiring.
The aviation authority board voted in favor of nearly $35 million in airport improvements and incentives in return for the company picking Jacksonville for at least 600,000 square feet of space for manufacturing and offices.
Jacksonville City Council will vote next month on offering up to $20 million in property tax rebates over a 20-year period as the city’s piece of the incentives. The state is considering “significant funding” for the plane manufacturing facility from its corporate income tax credit program and its high-impact incentive grants, according to the city’s Office of Economic Development.
Aviation Authority would provide incentives and lots of land
The aviation authority’s contribution would be $22.5 million to extend a taxiway so there is access to land on the east side of Cecil Airport where the company would complete its facility in phases by Jan. 1, 2032.
Looking beyond the hangar, the company would lease 80 to 100 acres of undeveloped property from the aviation authority. The aviation authority would abate nearly $7.2 million of rent and common area maintenance fees over the first six years of the ground lease where the company would construct its new buildings.
A city Office of Economic Development memo says the total investment in out-fitting the existing hangar and building a new aviation manufacturing facility will be an estimated $430 million.