Gov. Easley Announces 70 Jobs in Alamance County

JDIG Helps Bring Honda Aero to Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport

Raleigh– Gov. Mike Easley announced today that Honda Aero, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Co. Ltd., will establish its headquarters and jet engine manufacturing operations at the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport, including production of the engine for its new HondaJet.  The project, which was made possible in part by a Job Development Investment Grant, will create 70 jobs during the next five years and invest $27 million.

“When innovative, world-leading companies such as Honda Aero choose to locate in North Carolina, it proves we still are first in flight more than a century after the Wright brothers took off from Kitty Hawk,” Easley said.  “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.”

Honda Aero will move to Burlington from Reston, Va.  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.

Honda Aircraft Company Inc., a separate subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., announced in February that it will establish its headquarters and build the HondaJet at Piedmont Triad International Airport.  That project calls for an investment of up to $100 million and the creation of 283 jobs during the next five years.

The state’s Economic Investment Committee voted unanimously today to award a JDIG grant to the company to facilitate this project.  This is the 63rd JDIG award announced since Easley and the General Assembly started the program in 2002, and the eighth 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 witholding taxes derived from the creation of the 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.

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.

“I have worked in the Senate, particularly as a member of the Commerce Committee, to pursue policies that help attract companies that want to grow,” said Sen. Tony Foriest (D-Alamance).

“The cooperation and partnership of state, local and education agencies along with the private sector made this opportunity a reality,” said state Rep. Alice Bordsen (D-Alamance).  “This is the kind of cooperation expanding firms recognize as critical to their success and that North Carolina encourages.”

Other partners who helped make this announcement 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 and Duke Energy.

For more information about Honda Aero, vist http://world.honda.com/HondaAero.