California airplane startup eyes Greensboro for potential 10,000-worker plant
In what would rank as the largest jobs commitment in recent North Carolina history, the California aviation startup JetZero has named Greensboro as a finalist site for its first manufacturing plant.
The company projects its future factory will require more than 10,000 workers at full capacity. This surpasses the current record forecast for a North Carolina-backed economic project, the 7,500 jobs promised by the automaker VinFast in Chatham County.
Greensboro is one of three candidates to land the facility, JetZero spokesperson Jenny Derwin said in an email. The company would not disclose the two other potential locations, she said, “in order to preserve the integrity of the process, and to preserve future opportunities with finalist candidates sites.”
Guilford County Board of Commissioners chairman Melvin “Skip” Alston declined to discuss JetZero’s prospects during a phone call, but he hinted at an approaching timeline. “I think we’ll be making some kind of announcement, possibly in the next week,” he said. “But I can’t comment on that at this point.”
The Guilford board is scheduled to convene for a special session on June 12 to discuss awarding “an unnamed manufacturing company” an economic incentive grant worth up to $76 million. The company is expected to be identified during this meeting. The potential grant recipient “is also requesting state and other local incentives before making a location decision,” the meeting notice stated.
Founded in 2020, JetZero has designed a plane with unique dimensions and lighter materials that the startup says offers superior fuel efficiency. Resembling a manta ray, the “Z4” aircraft’s flatter “all-wing design” enables more efficient lift than standard aircraft, Derwin said.
The company plans to produce 20 airplanes a month at its inaugural plant, with each aircraft capable of seating 250 passengers. Alaska Airlines and United Airlines are both investors and have inked conditional purchase agreements with the startup. Once production begins, Derwin said the hiring ramp-up period will last at least five years.
If JetZero comes to Greensboro, it would join another aviation startup with big plans in the Piedmont city. The jet manufacturer Boom Supersonic has committed to assemble and test its sound barrier-breaking aircraft at the Piedmont Triad International Airport. North Carolina and Guilford County combined to offer Boom a $121.5 million performance-based incentive package through which Boom has pledged to employ up to 1,760 local workers.
The state’s main incentive tool is called a job development investment grant, or JDIG. These are realized through payroll tax rebates only after recipients achieve certain job creation and investment targets. JDIGs are awarded by the N.C. Economic Investment Committee, which is scheduled to next meet on June 5.
Since the JDIG program began in 2003, most recipient companies have failed to meet their projected hiring goals. This includes the biggest-ever JDIG commitment, given to the Vietnamese carmaker VinFast in 2022. Despite promising to create at least 7,500 jobs, the company has postponed the opening of its Chatham County factory until at least 2028. It originally said it would begin production in 2024.
