By Jeff Brumley
January 25, 2012 

The West Virginia-based company does inspections and repair on business jets.

A West Virginia-based aviation firm has signed a lease for a new 30,000-square-foot hangar at Cecil Airport, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority has announced.

KCI Aviation performs inspections, maintenance and repair on business jets and turbo-prop planes, especially those powered by Pratt and Whitney engines.

Construction on its hangar is scheduled to begin in March and to be completed early next year. The company plans to hire at least 30 employees by the end of 2014 at an average wage of $46,000 a year, the authority said.

Cecil is a former naval air station and once a master jet base home to a carrier air wing. Now, the 6,000-acre facility has 50 buildings, including a dozen hangars and a 12,500-foot main runway. Its tenants include the Boeing Co., Pratt and Whitney, Flightstar, the Florida Army National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Florida State College at Jacksonville.

Cecil is now one of four airports operated by the authority, including Jacksonville International. In addition to hosting aviation-related firms. It is also the only licensed horizontal launch commercial spaceport on the East Coast.

The authority’s board of directors approved the lease on Monday. Jacksonville and the state of Florida approved at least $165,000 in incentives for hiring 30 people.

According to its website, KCI has been in business almost 60 years with operations in Bridgeport, W.Va., and Ponca City, Okla.

jeff.brumley@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4310

Source: http://bit.ly/z94CqX