| Mobile still on the prowl By Connie Baggett March 2014 ...MOBILE, Ala. -- You might think landing an Airbus jetliner plant, one of just four in the world, would be enough to satisfy any economic development appetite. ...But you would be wrong. ...The folks who run the nearly 1,700-acre Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, site of the future Airbus A320 final assembly line, are quick to point out there are still 200 acres and 850,000 square feet of building space available. Landing Airbus wasn’t the finale, but the beginning. ...The Airbus assembly line over time will attract suppliers, investments and more jobs. And Mobile is aware its neighbors to the north, east and west hope to grab some of the bounty. Airbus officials have fueled that interest by telling Mobile’s neighbors that the Airbus “halo” will extend hundreds of miles from the plant. ...Prospects are showing interest in Mobile. ...“We get inquiries every day from suppliers interested in the Mobile Aeroplex and how they can play a role,” said Buddy Rice, marketing director for the Mobile Airport Authority, which runs the Aeroplex at Brookley, Mobile Downtown Airport and Mobile Regional Airport. ...For years Mobile Aeroplex has been a key player in the I-10 region that includes NASA’s Stennis Space Center, Miss., and the military’s aviation training and aerial weapons development in Northwest Florida. But the announcement in July 2012 that Mobile would host a $600 million Airbus plant made the city the place to watch. ...“It was the icing on the cake for us,” Rice said about Airbus. But Mobile is far from done recruiting. Airbus has provided a big opportunity for the former Air Force base to become a showcase. And it’s been a long time coming. ...Once the largest employer in Mobile, the base closed in 1969 and sent the local economy in a tailspin for years. Over the decades the site began attracting a variety of activities. ...Piston engine-maker Continental Motors, established in 1929, was eventually joined by ST Aerospace, Star Aviation, Signature Flight Services, FedEx, Airbus Engineering Center and more than 70 other tenants. ...“There’s been a ramp-up of activity in preparation for the Airbus project, and we anticipate much more once the 1,000 employees are on site and the plant is in full operation,” Rice said. ...The push now is to spruce up the site and make it look like the world player it is. ...The logistics of the site are superior. ...“We sit on Mobile Bay with access to the Port of Mobile. We have five class 1A railroads that come to a point right off our site. We have two airports, both with FAA- staffed towers. There is also our highway connection with both Interstate 65 and Interstate 10 intersecting right here. When you put together the advantages of land, sea, air and rail, there aren’t a lot of places, if any, that can compete.” ...The center has two runways: 14/32 is 9,618 feet by 150 feet with 25-foot paved shoulders; runway 18/36 is 7,800 feet by 150 feet. Both have at least one instrument approach. Runway 32 has an Instrument Landing System, ILS, that allows low- visibility landings. ...“In terms of the actual infrastructure,” Rice said, “the airport can accommodate just about any aircraft.” ...It routinely accommodates small general aviation aircraft, civilian and military helicopters, fixed-wing military aircraft, corporate jets, commercial jets like the 757 and A320, and jumbos like the A330, MD-11, 767, and 747. ...Rice anticipates a series of announcements for Mobile Aeroplex in the wake of Airbus. Indeed, France’s Safran opened its engineering center at the Mobile Aeroplex the day of the Airbus groundbreaking. ...But competition is intense. Mobile’s neighbors attend air shows and trade shows and are in the fight to land suppliers. Pensacola, Fla., is even courting ST Aerospace for a 300-worker facility at Pensacola International Airport. ...But Mobile’s economic development leaders have shown their persistence. They maintained ties with Airbus’ corporate parent after they lost a bid to build Air Force tankers in Mobile. ...In addition, Mobile Regional Airport has a 1,700-acre site with 200 acres and 50,000 square feet of hangar and office space available. It’s home of the U.S. Coast Guard Aviation Training Center and Airbus Military. It has two runways: 14/32, which is 8,502 feet, and runway 18/36, which is 4,376 feet. It also has a helipad. □ □ □ Rebranding for an international audience ...MOBILE, Ala. -- For generations, the site of the former military base was known simply as “Brookley.” That was fine for locals, but not so much for an international audience. ...“We started the campaign to craft a new identity in November 2012,” said Buddy Rice, marketing director for the Mobile Airport Authority. ...Changing the name to Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley retained the historic name but provides it with a better sense of place. It also makes it easier to search on the Internet. ...“We have to make it easy for people to find us, and using Mobile to frame all our business units does that,” Rice said. “It also provides us with a buzz world that is associated with movement, speed and urgency, all important to the aerospace industry.” ...The new branding adds a striking graphic depiction inspired by seagulls, familiar for anyone living near the coast anywhere in the world. It’s all brought together with the slogan: "Let’s Fly." ...“There is nothing more indicative of our region,” Rice said. Colors in the logo are blue for the heavens, red symbolic of the fiery exhaust of a jet engine and green for the coastal plain. ...“We want this branding to open a door so people around the world can see what Mobile has to offer,” Rice said. “We have an amazing ecosystems here, including beaches. We have great golf courses, great food, hospitality, and even Mardi Gras. There is so much more that Mobile offers the world, and we want them to know about it.” -- Connie Baggett |
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| Aerospace Quarterly |
