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GREENSBORO — The HondaJet has moved one step closer to production.

Honda Aircraft has finally begun work on the 250,000-square-foot building where the $3.9 million light jet will be built.

Construction should be complete in early 2011.

“We anticipate beginning production soon after that,” said Stephen Keeney, Honda Aircraft’s senior manager for corporate affairs. “We’re still a ways out.”

The first planes, originally scheduled for delivery late next year, won’t reach customers until late 2011, following FAA certification.

Earlier this year, Honda announced it had encountered problems getting parts from unidentified suppliers, a problem that pushed production back a year.

“It was the culmination of a number of factors,”  Keeney said of the delay. “Mainly, it was the ongoing effects the (economy) had on some of our suppliers.” Honda has declined to identify the suppliers.

Word that the company has started work on its production building came as welcome news to local business officials.

“I think that will be a positive outcome for Greensboro and the entire region,” said Dan Lynch president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance. “I always felt that the delay was a factor of what was going on globally and wasn’t specific to Honda and North Carolina and the Triad.

“The aviation industry suffered kind of a catastrophic setback. Now, things are starting to stabilize and, hopefully, recover.”

The production building will bring Honda’s investment at Piedmont Triad International Airport to more than $100 million.

The company, which has an 83-acre campus on Ballinger Road, has already completed its headquarters building and a 187,000-square-foot research and development center.

Honda has about 450 employees; that number should surpass 600 when full production on the five-passenger jet begins.

On a single shift, the company will produce between 80 and 100 jets a year. Additional shifts can be added, depending on demand.

So far, Honda says it has orders for more than 100 jets.

“We don’t give an exact number,” Kenney said. “It’s kind of a closely guarded company secret. It is really information of a competitive advantage.”

Keeney said the recession resulted in few cancellations.

“On a rather ironic note, we are experiencing a little benefit from all the economic turmoil,” he said, noting that some businesses want to get rid of their larger, less fuel-efficient aircraft. “We are seeing an increasing interest in our product from companies who are interested in rightsizing their aviation needs.”

The HondaJet is powered by two GE Honda HF120 engines, which will be built at Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport in Burlington.

Called Honda Aero, the engine operation represents a joint venture between Honda and General Electric. The company occupies an 82,300-square-foot building with an initial investment of $27 million. It houses 33 employees, a number that will increase when production begins.

The company plans to turn out 250 engines a year.

“We have capacity to do double that,” said Tony Brandewie, senior manager of operations at Honda Aero. “We are looking at additional customers beyond HondaJet.”

Honda hopes to have the Federal Aviation Administration certification of the new plane completed by the fourth quarter of 2011, just before the first scheduled deliveries.

The company’s lone HondaJet has logged more than 500 flight test hours, attaining a top speed of 483 mph and a maximum altitude of 43,000 feet.
 

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com