Marshall USA breaks ground on another signature PTI project

The U.K. aerospace manufacturer confirmed in April its plans for a 240-job maintenance, repair and overhaul facility with operations beginning in early 2025. The facility is Marshall’s first production presence in the U.S.

The planned 200,000-square-foot Marshall facility is within a few football fields of the Boom Supersonic production plant. A topping ceremony was held Thursday that recognized the structural completion of Boom’s $500 million, 400,000-square-foot facility.

“We now have this storied aerospace name as a new part of this campus,” said Kevin Baker, PTI’s executive director.

Piedmont Triad Airport Authority chairman Paul Mengert said the airport has established “a reputation for being quick,” pointing to the Boom topping ceremony and Marshall USA ground breaking occurring on consecutive days.

“Marshall’s decision helps establish us as one of the foremost aerospace campuses in the United States,” Mengert said. “I don’t think many aerospace campuses are having these kinds of signature programs.

“The airport has more than doubled the number of employees to over 8,600.”

Marshall USA has not provided what the average annual wage would be for its employees, but said overall payroll impact would be more than $18 million.

The manufacturer unveiled Friday a link discussing its hiring plans at https://marshallaerospace.com/careers/usa.

It plans to hire about 200 employees in 2024 with an initial focus on aircraft mechanics, project schedulers and planners, supply-chain managers, aircraft maintenance supervisors, procurement managers, government contract specialists, and aviation systems engineers.

PTI remains the state’s third largest airport overall and third for commercial service, at $9.3 billion in economic impact in 2021, according to an N.C. Aviation Division report released in January. That is up 7.6% from the 2019 report.

Baker, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. — a former N.C. House speaker — and N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, linked landing Marshall USA to the legislature’s bipartisan efforts the past 10 years that provided PTI with pivotal infrastructure funding toward creating a manufacturing hub.

“I am excited to see a vision (for PTI) realized — a bridge (over Interstate 73) that would unlock a lot of economic potential for the region,” Tillis said, citing not only Marshall USA and Boom, but also the FedEx cargo sorting hub, Honda Aircraft Co., HAECO and an expanding TAT Piedmont Aviation.

“We appreciate that Marshall has the confidence in this airport and region to place roots here.”

Berger said landing Marshall’s USA operations solidifies PTI as a global aviation factor and expands the transformative role the industry sector is playing in terms of advanced manufacturing jobs and capital investment.

“We have a thriving aerospace ecosystem that didn’t just happen, but represented the results of a lot of hard work for a long period of time that will only continue to grow,” Berger said.

“It’s a huge win for North Carolina, for the Triad and for PTI.”

Marshall USA’s project will establish a facility to support its current and future U.S. Armed Forces contracts, with Phase 1 comprising capacity to support six bays serving the U.S.-based fleet of Hercules C-130 tactical transport aircraft.

There also will be a paint facility, support shops and office space.

Marshall Aerospace managing director Neil McManus spent much of Friday’s remarks on the synergies between Marshall and the U.S. military, as well as citing North Carolina’s sizable military presence and support.

“Marshall USA embodies our partnership between the U.K. and the U.S., and we’re very proud of our legacy with the U.S. military,” McManus said.

Ken Loy, who was named in August as its top executive for Marshall Aerospace USA, is an aerospace and defense veteran, including serving in the U.S. Marine Corps for 21 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

“Our history is one of long-term commitments to the communities we belong to, sharing in our growth and becoming part of the fabrics,” Loy said.

Those include STEM educational efforts in high school and higher education, as well as apprenticeship opportunities and a dedicated recruitment of military veterans.

McManus said having Boom Supersonic as a manufacturing neighbor on the PTI campus was fitting considering Marshall designed the nose for the Concorde supersonic aircraft and Boom aims to resurrect that mode of trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flight.

“There is a parallel with the next generation of supersonic transport,” McManus said.

“It’s a great indication that we are in the right place going forward, and today, more than ever, Greensboro is the right home for Marshall USA.”

Loy said that “by providing in-country support, it will bring us even closer to our U.S. military customers and reduce our backlog to keep more aircraft out on the flight lines so our (military) can accomplish their missions.”

“We can go beyond our core MRO capabilities and bring Marshall’s global expertise.”

The $2.37 million in the state incentive package comes from the Job Development Investment Grant program, which covers projects considering sites in other states.

The package features community college training funding of $400,000, as well as $640,000 from the N.C. Transportation Department and a pending $372,000 Community Development Block Grant from N.C. Commerce Department’s Rural Division.

The Marshall project has been approved by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners for up to $308,879 in performance-based incentives, plus a $124,000 local matching fund utility grant, as well as up to $240,000 in performance-based incentives from the Greensboro City Council.