New hangar opens, brings 300 jobs to Cecil Airport

A new hangar opened at Cecil Airport on Wednesday, and that means 300 new jobs for Jacksonville.

"We are the aviation Mecca in this region, and anytime you can create 250 to 300 jobs, that's a great thing for Jacksonville," said Rusty Chandler, chief of the airport.

The Jacksonville Aviation Authority officially opened hangar 935, the largest at the airport.

Flightstar, a leading provider of heavy maintenance and repair services to the commercial aviation industry, will work out of the new hanger.

"We are going to be doing the aircraft maintenance on the airframe mean, structural and interior cabin modifications to 737s, 757s and other narrow body equipment," said Tucker Morrison, Flightstar chief operating officer.

The 113,000-square-foot hangar cost about $27.5 million and was financed equally by the JAA and Florida Department of Transportation.

Flighstar will utilize hangar 935, along with 17,000-square-feet of support space for commercial aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul.

Three-hundred parking spaces also accompany the hangar.

It will also help Flightstar take passenger planes, gut them and make them into cargo planes.

This is now the third facility at Cecil Airport, bringing the number of jobs there to 1,100.

"It will allow us to grow about 30 percent over our current footprint, the front here at the airport," Chandler said.

The jobs available will range in pay from minimum wage to $35 an hour. If you have interest in applying, go to www.flightstarjax.com.