Another business has chosen to relocate to the facilities at Spokane International Airport. Aero Flite Inc is a company that operates and maintains air tankers used to battle forest fires. The company will be moving its operations to the industrial park adjacent to the airport, and occupy a 30 thousand square foot hanger and 25 thousand square foot business office.
It’s the latest addition to the airports 7000 acres. SIA spokesman Todd Woodard explains the reason behind the company relocating here.
Woodard: "One thing Spokane has is a base of really good aircraft mechanics, and part of that is the long tradition that Spokane community college has in their aviation program.”
Woodard says recent additions to the SIA industrial park include Associated Painters, an operation that paints aircraft and aircraft parts, which built a second hanger this year, and Exotic Metals Forming Company which is building a 250 thousand square foot manufacturing facility that will hire as many as 150 employees.
Woodard: "So we are seeing more activity, I’ll be honest, I’ve gotten more inquiries from maintenance firms, and those seeking hangar space looking to expand to our part of the world, and we work really hard at that, we really market the airport, we meet with a lot of the airlines, we meet with maintenance companies to shape our future.”
Woodard says Aero-Flite will be housing several air tankers during the off fire season at their facility here and perform maintenance. It’s expected that the company will have fifty employees, some who will be brought in, and some hired locally.
