The NSW government announced today that a manufacturer of amphibious aircraft will set up a manufacturing base at Central Coast Airport at Warnervale.
Premier Mike Baird said that Amphibian Aerospace Industries (AAI) will relocate its off-shore manufacturing to the Central Coast and become the first transport category aircraft manufacturer to set up in Australia since the 1940s.
AAI holds the type certificates for the (Grumman) HU-16 A-E and G-111 Albatross.
"This is a great day for the Central Coast – this announcement means thousands of jobs for the region with a significant flow on to the Central Coast economy,” Baird said.
“The decision by AAI to locate here is a testament that NSW is Australia’s prime location for business growth and investment.”
Wyong Shire Council Administrator Ian Reynolds said the announcement was the culmination of over 12 months of negotiations between AAI and Central Coast Council.
“Bringing jobs to this region and enabling employment growth are some of the key priorities of Central Coast Council. There were a number of locations that AAI were investigating and we’re pleased to have successfully attracted AAI to the Central Coast,” he said.
AAI has stated that they will invest $100 million to build a manufacturing plant to upgrade the Albatross with turbo-prop engines and a glass cockpit.
"We could do this from numerous countries in the world but chose Australia because there is great available aviation engineering talent, we have support from the government and it is a stable political and legal environment,” said Amphibian Aircraft Group President Khoa Hoang.
“It just made good sense to us to choose the Central Coast. It’s close to Sydney and Newcastle, it’s in a great location and it offers our employees a great lifestyle.”
Amphibian Aircraft Group is currently headquartered in Leesburg, Virginia. The move into the new Central Coast facility is expected to be stage over three-five years.