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.
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