Figeac-Aero North America seeks incentives to expand, add 200 jobs
.JPG "Hocine Benaoum, an official with French aerospace company Figeac-Aero, points out potential expansion space at Sonaca NMF during a site visit in May 2014.")
Figeac-Aero North America will ask the Wichita City Council for financial incentives to expand its plant here and create 200 new jobs.
The company said in a news release Wednesday that it wants to undertake a $20 million expansion to its Wichita facilities at 9313 E. 39th St. North but needs $250,000 to help pay for land, plus a tax abatement on new construction.
Figeac-Aero plans to make the request at the council’s Tuesday meeting.
The company said its expansion plans are contingent upon council approval.
Hocine Benaoum, Figeac-Aero’s vice president and general manager, said in an interview Wednesday that the aviation supplier’s expansion plans call for adding 65,000 square feet to its existing building and constructing 90,000 additional square feet for manufacturing and a North American headquarters.
“For now this is the only U.S. plant,” he said, “(but) Figeac-Aero North America anticipates to have other plants in North America.”
He said the company expects to hire 200 more workers in Wichita – it has 46 now – over five years. “But it could be sooner than five years,” Benaoum added.
The base average wage for the new jobs is expected to be $39,520, plus health insurance and other benefits.
In December, the Sedgwick County Commission voted 3-2 to approve a $250,000 loan to Figeac-Aero to entice it to make Wichita its North American headquarters. Benaoum said Wednesday that he couldn’t talk about why it didn’t approach the city for financial incentives at the same time.
He said the company is also seeking incentives from the state for the expansion but declined to provide information about state-sponsored incentives.
The parent company is headquartered in Figeac, France, and manufactures parts and assemblies for aircraft manufacturers and suppliers such as Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer and Triumph. The company also makes parts for aircraft engine manufacturers.
Benaoum said the company does work for Spirit AeroSystems and other suppliers in Wichita.
Figeac-Aero entered Wichita last May through its acquisition of Sonaca NMF Wichita.
Reach Jerry Siebenmark at 316-268-6576 or jsiebenmark@wichitaeagle.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jsiebenmark.
This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 3:28 PM with the headline "Figeac-Aero North America seeks incentives to expand, add 200 jobs."