Cecil Airport, Jacksonville, Florida has confirmed that Boeing will give an additional 400 more jobs by moving into a new hangar that will be constructed by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, marking a major expansion for Boeing’s presence at the airport. Currently, Boeing only has 350 people at Cecil Airport. The company has however entered into a 25-year building and land lease agreement with the aviation authority, which owns Cecil Airport. The senior vice president of business development for JAX Chamber, Aaron Bowman, stated that the new hangar will enable Boeing to consolidate its Cecil Airport operations. The immediate impact will be keeping 350 jobs in Jacksonville by continuing work on F-16 and F18 aircraft.
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Additionally, the larger hangar will accommodate bigger aircraft so Boeing can compete across the full scope of Department of Defense contracts for work at Cecil Airport. This means that Boeing will open the door to all kinds of new opportunities for the airport as Bowman stated and with the hangar space and ramp space, they have the capacity for “really any size aircraft.” The Jacksonville Aviation Authority will build new units for lease to Boeing on about 30 acres on the northeast side of Cecil Airport, near Boeing’s current location at the airport.
The new construction will deliver almost 270,000 square feet of hangar space and more than 100,000 square feet of office and support shop space, according to Boeing. Construction will start in autumn next year and Boeing plans to start operations in the new facilities by January of 2024. Bowman, who also serves on Jacksonville City Council, said the combined investment by the aviation authority and Boeing will likely be in the US$150 million range. He said talks with Boeing about the expansion started five years ago and then picked up steam over the past year and a half.
