Consultants Forum Advertise
Subscribe
Close

  • Free for qualified executives and consultants to industry

  • Receive quarterly issues of Area Development Magazine and special market report and directory issues

Subscribe Now
Renew

Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Sovereign Aerospace Plans Elizabethtown, North Carolina, Production-Maintenance Operations

02/08/2024
Veteran-Owned aviation management company Sovereign Aerospace plans to establish operations in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. The $4.15 million project is expected to create 33 jobs in Bladen County.

The new production facility, located at the Aerospace Industrial Park, will manufacture, sell, and provide onsite maintenance of the high-demand Vulcanair aircraft. Sovereign currently manages operations at the Curtis L. Brown, Jr. Airport.

“Sovereign Aerospace is excited to be an integral part in the development of the Elizabethtown Aerospace Industrial Park in Bladen County, North Carolina,” said Ken Hadaway, COO of Sovereign Aerospace. “Our partnership and collaboration with Ameravia, Inc., the sole-source importer of Vulcanair aircraft in the United States, has proven to be the cornerstone for expanding the footprint of aircraft manufacturing in North Carolina.”

The project is being supported by $100,000 from the One North Carolina Fund. The One NC Fund provides financial assistance to local governments to help attract economic investment and create jobs. Companies receive no money upfront and must meet job creation and capital investment targets to qualify for payment. All One NC grants require matching participation from local governments and any award is contingent upon that condition being met.

“As a small and veteran-owned business, Sovereign Aerospace embodies many of the values we seek to support North Carolina’s economic prosperity,” noted N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “The company’s commitment to training and employing highly skilled veterans mirrors our own commitment to growing and further developing our workforce as outlined in the First in Talent strategic economic development plan.”

Sovereign Aerospace provides pilot training, consulting services, aircraft brokering, and general aviation maintenance. The company has several subsidiaries, including UAS Drone, Pinehurst Aces, Sandhills Fliers, Pinehurst Aviation Medical, Pinehurst Aviation Services, Veteran Transition Corps, Entrepreneurial Alliance and Sandhills Avionics.

In addition to the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC), other key partners in the project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, N.C. Commerce’s Division of Workforce Solutions, N.C. Transportation’s Division of Aviation, GoldenLEAF Foundation, North Carolina’s Southeast, N.C. Electric Cooperative, Four County Electric Membership Corporation, Bladen County, Bladen County Economic Development Commission, Bladen’s Bloomin’ Agri-Industrial Inc., Elizabethtown Airport Economic Development Commission, and the Town of Elizabethtown.

Exclusive Research