F L Y I N G T O : N O R T H C A R O L I N A
“Honda is a shining
star in the state and
PTI has a tremendous
number of additional
aviation related jobs”
Bobby Walston, director of the North
Carolina Department of Transportation’s
(NCDOT) Aviation Division
30 | BU S INE S S A I R P O RT INT E RNAT I ONA L JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0
more potential announcements
coming up.”
One New Jersey-based business
aviation consultant thinks more may be
afoot at Honda than just the manufacturing of
the HondaJet Elite. Brian Foley, who was marketing
director at Dassault Falcon Jet for two decades and before
that a senior engineer and marketing manager at Boeing,
believes the company needs to build or acquire a second
larger model to create a family of products. He says, “I
thought they might have something to say at October’s
National Business Aviation Association convention in Las
Vegas, but maybe they weren’t quite ready.”
The danger for Honda is that customers may go
elsewhere if it doesn’t have a larger sibling jet in the family.
Recent job advertisements for aircraft system designers,
structural engineers and fuselage design experts with Honda
could suggest a new model is in the works.
Triad-Piedmont aviation services
PTI is a major hub of aviation activity in North Carolina and
boosts the local economy by US$6 billion. It hosts a Cessna
Citation Service Center which opened in the 1980s. Cessna
Citation jet and HondaJet owners take advantage of local
maintenance capability by making PTI their home drome.
fund improvements and expansion. Of
these airports, 62 are general aviation
facilities. Last year 24 of these
airports received US$24.7 million in
state and federal funds.
One goal of the state’s aviation
division is to see that every general
aviation airport has a 5,000ft runway.
“This isn’t a mandate but we have set
this goal and are striving to reach it,”
says Bobby Walston, director of the North
Carolina Department of Transportation’s
(NCDOT) Aviation Division.
So far about 80% of the airports
receiving public funds have a
5,000ft runway. There are also 30
privately owned airports open to
the public in the state and 400
others that are purely private
airstrips and airports.
Honda’s vision
North Carolina has a big focus on
attracting aviation business to the state.
Walston says business aviation is helping
North Carolina communities attract new
corporations to locate in the state. And he notes,
the taxes collected on one corporate jet based locally
can equal the taxes on 100 houses. The 3,300
aircraft based at public airports in the state provide
local tax revenue and there are 18,000 pilots and 15,000
aircraft mechanics.
The state attracted Honda to set up a research facility
in Greensboro in 2000. When the Honda Aircraft Company
was formed in 2006 it built its world headquarters and very
light business jet manufacturing plant at the Triad-Piedmont
International Airport (PTI), which is called Triad because the
airport is situated in a triangle between Winston Salem, High
Point and Greensboro. Honda delivered 25 HondaJet Elite
aircraft in the first three quarters of 2019 and is engaged
in a US$15.5 million expansion at the PTI plant, with a new
83,000ft facility for building wings and storing parts that
will bring its total investment in the state to US$245 million.
There are currently 140 Elites in operation.
“Honda is a shining star in the state and PTI has a
tremendous number of additional aviation related jobs,”
Walston says. “They are like a little aerospace Mecca, with
Above: HondaJet at Piedmont
Triad International Airport
is one of 200 aerospace
companies in North Carolina
Above left: An expansion of
the company’s manufacturing
facility at Piedmont Triad
International Airport will make
the wings for the HondaJet Elite