Spirit AeroSystems To Locate Plant in Kinston
It was 1903 when the Wright Brothers made their historic first flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., and now North Carolina is about to become even more of an aerospace industry leader.
In April 2010, Spirit AeroSystems – the world’s largest independent supplier of commercial airplane assemblies and components – will open a $570.5 million Spirit AeroSystems North Carolina design and manufacturing facility at Global TransPark in Kinston. The plant will initially employ 200 workers but is expected to expand to more than 1,000 employees by 2015.
Spirit is actually based in Wichita, Kan., where 10,000 employees are headquartered. The company designs, engineers and manufactures lightweight, strong, carbon fiber composite parts for large commercial-passenger airline customers such as Airbus, Boeing, Cessna, Gulfstream and Hawker Beechcraft.
Spirit primarily produces parts such as fuselages, pylons (which hold the engine to the wing), nacelles (engine components) and wing structures.
“We are constrained for space as well as for available talented people in Wichita, so we began a global search for a site that will be an ideal design-and-build composite center for the company,” says Rick Davis, site operations director for the Spirit AeroSystems North Carolina project. “Kinston hit the mark on everything we were looking for.”
Davis says Kinston has a convenient airport with a good runway that will be utilized to fly constructed Spirit products from the assembly plant. In addition, the city is also close to the Atlantic Ocean and ports that can ship planes to European customers.
“Lenoir County has good road infrastructure in place, as well as a railway to transport our products to port, and the area has the right people with reliable skill sets who we can train to build our products,” he says.
When the plant is up and running in early 2010, Spirit will already have new contracts with Airbus for the initial 200 employees to work on. Spirit will design and build the Airbus center fuselage frame section, a composite structure that will be 65 feet long, 20 feet wide and weigh 9,000 pounds.
“The Kinston operation will quickly grow to a workforce of 700 people and, ultimately, more than 1,000 employees as more contracts start rolling in,” Davis says. “Commercial airline carriers are always wanting new planes with the latest technological advancements, and we also hope to attract military business as we move forward in North Carolina.”
As for wages, Davis says they will vary by job function and responsibilities, but the average wage at Spirit AeroSystems North Carolina will be approximately $48,000 a year, not including benefits.
“It is understandable that the people of Kinston and Lenoir County are excited about this endeavor,” he says. “We at Spirit certainly are.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
