Company Examines Using Space Coast Facility

Another aircraft engine maker is considering Florida's Space Coast as a distribution site for its new line of engines. Bombardier Motor Corp. of America, an affiliate company of Montreal-based Bombardier Recreational Products Inc., hopes to choose between Titusville's Space Coast Regional Airport and a site near Duluth (MN), by the end of the month.

The Space Coast Regional Airport has agreed to a three-year lease of hangar space with Bombardier if it picks Titusville. Brevard County commissioners have approved tax breaks for the operation, which is projected to bring 25 jobs at an average wage of $54,500 a year. Titusville's city government and Enterprise Florida also are looking at incentives for the project.

Bombardier has a significant Florida presence through its other recreational product lines, including Evinrude and Johnson boat motors, as well as all-terrain vehicles and personal watercraft. Its operations have offices in Stuart, Lake Cogan and the south Brevard town of Grant. Access to East Coast ports and Florida's heavy interest in aviation also led Bombardier to consider the state.

"We looked at everything from Sanford to Fort Pierce," says Luc de Gaspe Beaubien, sales marketing and service director for the parent operation of Bombardier Motor.

"In aviation, there has been no evolution since," says de Gaspe Beaubien. Bombardier is introducing a pair of lightweight six-cylinder engines that put out 220 or 300 horsepower. "These are clean-sheet designs," says the Bombardier executive of the innovative piston engines.

FMI: www.bombardier.com