New Service Center To Bring 50 Additional Jobs

Gulfstream Aerospace will increase services to customers and add to the employees at its West Palm Beach, Florida, site with construction of a new service center at Palm Beach International Airport.

The company will build a nearly 115,000-square-foot maintenance, repair and overhaul facility on the west side of the airport. The new facility, which includes offices, back shops and an approximately 75,000-sq-ft hangar, will replace the smaller one Gulfstream now operates on the south side of the airport. The growth is expected to create approximately 50 jobs, a nearly 50 percent increase in the size of the company's current West Palm Beach workforce.

Gulfstream's facility will be adjacent to an all-new storage hangar, customer offices and fuel farm operated by sister company Jet Aviation. The entire facility will be more than 168,000 sq ft. Gulfstream and Jet Aviation will invest more than $50 million in the project. Groundbreaking is scheduled for 2018, and the facility is expected to open by the first quarter of 2020.

"Our West Palm Beach site plays a major role in our service organization, which has experienced sizable growth over the last several years," said Derek Zimmerman, president, Gulfstream Customer Support. "Like other expansions we've announced this year in Savannah; Appleton, Wisconsin; and Farnborough, England; and last year in Van Nuys, California, this expansion in West Palm Beach will keep our service network well-positioned to accommodate the growing demand for aircraft maintenance and refurbishment. The addition of this world-class facility will enhance the West Palm Beach customer and employee experience and help us maintain the service excellence we are known for. Additionally, we look forward to bringing more jobs to the community."

Gulfstream West Palm Beach has been a company site since 2001. It is home to a service center with more than 46,000 sq ft of hangar space. In 2017, the facility had more than 975 aircraft visits. Gulfstream West Palm Beach offers a broad range of services, including major inspections, structural modifications and repairs and major avionics installations and system upgrades. It is a certified U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency repair station and also has maintenance approvals from Argentina, Aruba, Bermuda, Brazil, Burundi, Canada, the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man, Peru, San Marino and Venezuela.

Gulfstream West Palm Beach also supports a Gulfstream Field and Airborne Support Team (FAST) rapid-response unit that assists operators in aircraft-on-ground situations. The unit, which comprises factory-trained technicians and a large custom truck outfitted with equipment and spare parts, is based at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

"This expansion was made possible by the contributions of many, including the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach County commissioners, the Palm Beach County Department of Airports, the West Palm Beach City Commission and the state of Florida's economic development team at Enterprise Florida," said Jay Neely, vice president, Law and Public Affairs, Gulfstream. "We appreciate their support and efforts."

(Image provided with Gulfstream news release)

FMI: www.gulfstream.com