LITTLE ROCK -- The state's largest manufacturing export industry is about to get 200 jobs and millions of dollars larger, government and business officials announced Tuesday.
Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. executives said the company will add a $20 million, 116,000 square-foot expansion to its Little Rock business-jet completion center by early next year to make room for new paint, engineering, and warehouse and storage facilities, as well as an addition to its flight test line.
"We started to do business in Arkansas more than 30 years ago, and it was working well, and we have no reason to change," said Christian Sasso, senior vice president and general manager of the Dassault Falcon center.
"We find everything we want here," Sasso said. "It's, for us, a very good place to work."
Demand for the new Falcon 7X, a technologically advanced three-engine jet that has a 5,590 nautical mile range and is known for its fuel efficiency, is the key driver of the expansion, he said.
More than 165 orders for the Falcon 7X have already been received, representing more than four years of production, company officials said. The first 7X was scheduled to be delivered to its buyer Tuesday.
The center delivered more than 50 aircraft last year, is on track to deliver around 70 aircraft this year, and expects to deliver around 90 aircraft next year, Sasso said.
The 200 new employees, most of whom will be hired by the end of the year, will earn an average of $20 an hour, Sasso said.
The company, a subsidiary of France-based Dassault Aviation, already employs more than 1,800 people at the center, which completes about 85 percent of Dassault-produced aircraft. The rest are completed by subcontractors in Europe, Sasso said.
The Dassault Falcon center has a $160 million payroll, which is expected to be close to $200 million once the new employees are hired, Sasso said.
Some of those employees will have gone through a short-term aviation manufacturing technology program at Pulaski Technical College, Sasso said. The program was designed specifically with the needs of Little Rock's aviation completion centers in mind, college officials said.
Gov. Mike Beebe, who attended Tuesday's announcement, said the state Department of Education is also working aerospace industry education into the high school curriculum.
Besides work force training, both the state and the city of Little Rock provided Dassault Falcon with incentives for the company's expansion, although they amounted to a "relatively small" percentage of Dassault Falcon's overall investment.
Dassault Falcon received $175,000 in incentives -- $62,500 from the Arkansas Department of Economic Development, $62,500 from the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics, and $50,000 from the city of Little Rock, Beebe said.
Arkansas officials will look to capitalize on Dassault Falcon's announcement and the state's existing aerospace industry, AEDC executive director Maria Haley said.
"We haven't started the marketing yet, but I think that (future industry growth in the state) could be major if we do our job well," Haley said.
"It's already a major industry in the state and therefore, if we can market it even more, I think the expansion will be there," she said.
In addition to Dassault Falcon's operation, Hawker Beechcraft Corp. also has a business-jet service and completion center in Little Rock that employs about 900 people.
"We will be attending aviation shows and also focusing our advertising in aviation magazines and trying to go and show to the world that there is already an exiting industry in the state, and therefore, other industries should follow," Haley said.
Haley said the state would also focus on recruiting industries that support the aerospace industry.
Beebe said he could not brag enough about Haley.
"She has doors opening that we're very, very fortunate to have open," the governor said, adding that under her guidance, "we can continue to look forward to more and more success stories."
But before some of those stories can be penned, Beebe said he might have to tap into the newly created $50 million "quick-action closing fund" he will have at his disposal come July 1.
"We've made some offers and some commitments," of the fund's money, Beebe said.
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