Need a job? Months after opening, this Macon facility will double its workforce
Aircraft manufacturer Embraer announced in June 2018 that it would employ 100 people at its Middle Georgia Regional Airport facility. On Tuesday, a company executive says the plan now is to double that number.
The job expansion announcement was made during an open house at the 155,000-square-foot facility where commercial jet aircraft maintenance is performed. There’s been a higher workload than expected at the Macon site over the first several months, said Johann Bordais, president and CEO of Embraer Services and Support.
The company is forecasting a 50 percent workload increase in Macon in 2020, Bordais said.
“The guys came back to us a couple weeks ago and said ‘we have good news and challenging news.’ We have to grow the business. We have to go for the next step,’” Bordais said.
“We have the customers,” he added. “They are waiting for the facility to bring it up to double, up to 200 employees.”
Embraer is the third largest civil aircraft manufacturer in the world and is headquartered Brazil. The company has 21,000 employees worldwide and its aircraft maintenance services division was established in 2002 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tuesday’s open house brought out various Macon-Bibb County government and school board officials, as well as industry and business leaders.
“While we certainly try our best to bring jobs and industry to Macon-Bibb County, it is a day to celebrate when you bring a global company, a prestigious aircraft manufacturer,” Mayor Robert Reichert said.
Embraer has a three-year lease on the hangar where the previous tenant, aircraft maintenance group HAECO, left vacant in 2018.
Two years earlier, Boeing closed its airport plant. There was also the departure of Bombardier in 2017 that left 89 people laid off.
“A couple of years ago Middle Georgia Regional Airport took a hit,” said Robby Fountain, chairman of the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority. “We lost a lot of our corporate partners. We were in a tizzy a little bit to find a new tenant so we started our search and Embraer came to our spotlight.”
Embraer has become the neighbor of the Stevens Aerospace and Defense Systems aircraft operations facility.
South Bibb County will also be the new home of Irving Consumer Products. The manufacturing plant where soft bath tissue and paper towel will be made is expected to employ 200 people when it opens in later this year.
Construction is also underway on the Amazon fulfillment center off Sardis Church Road.
This story was originally published April 2, 2019 at 12:20 PM.