Sweet Home... North Carolina?

The Tar Heel State suits Honda just fine. Building on news earlier this year the Honda Aircraft Company selected Piedmont Triad International Airport (KGSO) near Greensboro as the site for production of its HondaJet VLJ (shown at center), on Tuesday Honda Aero, Inc., announced it will establish its corporate headquarters and a jet engine manufacturing plant in Burlington, NC adjacent to the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport (KBUY).

The new facility will produce jet engines developed and marketed by GE Honda Aero Engines, a joint venture between GE and Honda Aero established in 2004 for the development, certification and commercialization of jet engines in the 1,000 to 3,500 pounds thrust class.

The 102,400-square foot Honda Aero facility will consist of 36,000 square feet of office space, a 58,400-square foot production plant, and an 8,000-square foot engine test cell. Production at the new engine plant will begin in late 2010 with the manufacture of the GE Honda HF120 turbofan engine in the 2,000-pound thrust class.

Honda Aero will employ approximately 70 associates when the plant reaches its initial production plan of 200 engines per year within about one year of production startup. The company will invest approximately $27 million for construction of the headquarters and manufacturing facility, including equipment.

"This is a major step forward for our company, as we move to establish the home of our jet engine manufacturing operations here in Burlington," said Fumitaka Hasegawa, president and CEO of Honda Aero, Inc. "Just as our partnership with GE has created this class-leading engine, this facility reflects an important new partnership between Honda and North Carolina."

Honda Aero representatives say the GE Honda HF120 boasts a higher thrust-to-weight ratio, higher fuel efficiency, lower emissions and the quietest operation in its thrust class. The turbofan will power two of the newest products in the business jet market -- Spectrum Aeronautical's Freedom (below) and HondaJet, to be produced by the Honda Aircraft Company.

The HF120 is a higher thrust successor to Honda's original HF118 prototype engine, which has accumulated more than 4,000 hours of testing on the ground and in-flight.

Honda research on jet engine technology started in 1986, with development of the HF118 engine beginning in the late 1990s. GE-Honda collaboration on the HF120 began in early 2005. The first core test of the GE Honda HF120 was conducted in early 2007, and full-engine testing is expected later in the year.

FMI: www.gehonda.com, http://world.honda.com/HondaAero/