Plans Unveiled for Air Center in Mobile

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Mobile Register

By GEORGE TALBOT

Business Reporter

EADS North America on Monday laid the cornerstone for a $1 million aircraft maintenance and training complex at the Mobile Regional Airport, saying the 30 jobs it expects to create by April could be the first of hundreds more to come.

EADS North America -- a subsidiary of the Paris-based European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., the world's second-largest aerospace firm behind Boeing Co. -- is making an aggressive push to sell military airplanes to the United States.

Company officials said Monday that the 13,000- square-foot office and warehouse it is building on the northeast edge of the Mobile airport initially will provide support and training for U.S. Coast Guard planes. Its mission could be expanded dramatically, however, if EADS is successful in its bid to land more lucrative contracts with the Department of Defense, they said.

"This facility will be the foundation for all of our activity in the U.S.," said Ralph Crosby, chairman and chief executive officer of EADS North America. "We're here to grow, and growth is coming as we compete for additional aircraft."

EADS is building its aircraft support center adjacent to the Coast Guard's Mobile Air Training Center. The facility will be operated by EADS CASA, a Mobile-based subsidiary of EADS North America. When it opens in April, the support center will be used to train Coast Guard pilots to fly the EADS CASA CN-235 maritime patrol aircraft while also serving as a spare parts depot and service center for the 45 or so EADS CASA aircraft currently based in North America.

The support center's best and most immediate prospect for expansion, however, is with EADS CASA's C-295 troop transport plane. If the plane is selected for military use, it will be assembled in Mobile, on land EADS has reserved adjacent to its support center.

"Winning the C-295 will dramatically increase the employment here, and deepen the impact we'll have on Mobile," Crosby told a gathering of about 100 business and political leaders from across Alabama and the Mobile area.

EADS officials displayed a model of an 18,000-square-foot hangar that would be used to assemble the C-295. They declined to specify the number of jobs they anticipate the assembly plant could create, saying that the number will depend on the size of any contract. But local and state officials familiar with the project said it could push employment to more than 1,000 workers.

"This is just a beginning," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, who was recognized by Crosby as playing a critical role in bringing EADS to Mobile. "It's a seed that is going to grow, and we look forward to seeing these jobs multiply."

Shelby, an influential member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has pushed to increase funding for the Coast Guard, particularly for its so-called Deepwater program to upgrade planes, ships and other equipment.

Shelby said Monday that his top legislative priority is obtaining $40 million in funding to expand the University of South Alabama's Engineering Department. The department, he said, could be a vital source of engineers, helping to meet potential demand created by expansions at EADS and ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering Inc., an aircraft maintenance firm based at Mobile's Brookley Field Industrial Complex.

"We're going to build a world-class engineering school to support you," Shelby told EADS officials at Monday's news conference.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said EADS "is the catalyst for a lot of future growth in Mobile." Riley said the state will enter bidding for another EADS project that could add 1,150 jobs.

EADS on Friday announced it was evaluating sites for a proposed $600 million aircraft assembly plant that would build KC-330 tanker planes for the Pentagon. EADS is competing with Boeing for the tanker contract, but said it was sounding out all 50 state governors to gauge their interest in the assembly plant. A location is expected to be chosen by the end of the year.