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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Boom Supersonic Plans Greensboro, North Carolina, Manufacturing-Assembly Complex

01/27/2022
Aviation company Boom Supersonic will build its manufacturing and final assembly facility at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina. The $500 million project is expected to create more than 1,750 jobs by 2030 in Guilford County.

The Overture Superfactory will be a 40,000-square-foot facility, including the final assembly line, test facility, and customer delivery center for the Overture supersonic airliner. The company expects to break ground later this year and will begin production in 2024. The first Overture aircraft is slated to roll out in 2025, fly in 2026, and carry its first passengers by 2029.

“Selecting the site for Overture manufacturing is a significant step forward in bringing sustainable supersonic air travel to passengers and airlines,” said Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic. “With some of the country’s best and brightest aviation talent, key suppliers, and the state of North Carolina’s continued support, Boom is confident that Greensboro will emerge as the world’s supersonic manufacturing hub.”

The project from Boom Technology, Inc., operating as Boom Supersonic, will be facilitated, in part, by a High-Yield Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee earlier today, the first JDIG of this classification ever awarded. Boom’s project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by at least $32.3 billion over 20 years, the time period when the grant could be active. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the 1,761 new jobs, and accounting for a company investment of $500 million, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $87.2 million, paid over a time period of 20 years.

"It is both poetic and logical that Boom Supersonic would choose the state that’s first in flight for its first manufacturing plant," said Governor Roy Cooper. "Like the success of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, this innovative company will succeed by transforming passenger air travel with speed and sustainable energy."

Like all grants from the JDIG program, any state payments only occur following performance verification each year by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets.

The state approved additional support to help with final site preparations at the Piedmont Triad International Airport as part of the recently passed state budget (North Carolina House Bill 334). The legislature appropriated $106.7 million to the Department of Commerce to be used for site and road improvements and the construction of one or more aircraft hangars.

“Ever since the Wright Brothers but even more so today, the aviation and aerospace sector drives a significant part of the North Carolina economy,” said Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “We’ve reached this achievement by developing specialized workforce development programs for this industry, and as our state strategic plan for economic development makes clear, we’ll keep working to make North Carolina First in Talent, and not just First in Flight.”

Boom Supersonic is redefining commercial air travel by bringing sustainable, supersonic flight to the skies. The company’s historic commercial airliner, Overture, is designed and committed to industry-leading standards of speed, safety, and sustainability. Overture will be net-zero carbon, capable of flying on 100% sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) at twice the speed of today's fastest passenger jets.

“North Carolina has long been a preferred destination for leaders and pioneers in flight and aerospace, dating back to the Wright Brothers’ selection of Kitty Hawk for their experimental flights in the early 1900s,” said Christopher Chung, CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC). “We are delighted that Boom recognized North Carolina’s investments and commitment to become an aerospace manufacturing and research hub, and our highly qualified and motivated workforce will now have another avenue to further their careers here in the state.”

Partnering with the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. on this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, among other state and local partners.

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