An aircraft manufacturing company will announce today that it will put a plant in Ogden, potentially bringing several hundred new jobs to the city.
Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey announced Tuesday that a news conference will take place, but he and state economic development officials later declined to provide any details — including the name of the company.
However, the state and city have been working since last spring to get Colorado-based Adam Aircraft Industries to locate on property at Ogden-Hinckley Airport.
"This will bring hundreds of new jobs to the area," Godfrey's news conference announcement said. "In selecting a site for a new plant, this company was looking for a business environment that is nationally competitive and supportive of aerospace manufacturing activities, and a quality work force which they found here in Utah."
A spokesman for Adam Aircraft did not return telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday.
Last spring the Utah Board of Business and Economic Development approved financial incentives to get Adam Aircraft to put a plant in Ogden to build small business jet aircraft. Company officials said at the time that Utah was competing primarily with Texas and Kentucky to land the facility — three finalists whittled down from a group of more than 50 sites.
Rick Adam, the company's founder and chief executive officer, told the board at the time that production work at a Utah facility could start by the end of 2004 at an existing hangar. While the employee count would grow to 400 to 500 jobs in three years, Adam said, "I think, real-life, we'll do a lot better than that because we're looking at a lot of demand."
Adam Aircraft started building planes in 2000. Its A500, with twin propellers, is nearing certification from the Federal Aviation Administration. The A700 AdamJet is undergoing initial flight tests. It would be propelled by a pair of engines from Williams International, a Michigan-based company that has manufacturing facilities adjacent to the Ogden airport.
Last May, Williams said it would add 156 full-time employees in Ogden, joining more than 300 existing workers there.
On its Web site Adam Aircraft recently said it would build a second and third A700 to complete development and certification of the aircraft. Three airframes also would be built for static and fatigue testing in Pueblo.
"The A700 will deliver jet performance and reliability at a fraction of the cost of today's business jets," the Web site states. "With an advanced carbon composite airframe design and highly efficient Williams FJ33 turbofan engines, the A700 is a collaboration of industry leading technologies. Low operating costs, comfortable six-place seating, an aft lavatory and state-of-the-art avionics make the A700 a natural choice for customers considering jet ownership."
The new aircraft plant will be at the south end of the airport on Kemp Development property. Attempts to contact Bryce Gibby, project manager for Kemp Development, on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Adam Aircraft has more than 80,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space in Englewood and 22,000 square feet of manufacturing and testing space in Pueblo, Colo. The company has about 300 workers.
The financial incentive offered to Adam Aircraft by the state is in the form of a rebate of a percentage of tax revenue generated by the company over 15 years, to a maximum of 30 percent over the life of the project. To get the rebate the company would have to keep operations in Utah at least 15 years. Last spring state officials estimated the rebate could be $10 million net in present value but that the plant's gross benefits to state coffers could be about $100 million.
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com