news-record.com

GREENSBORO — TIMCO Aviation Services said Friday it wants to expand its California-based aircraft seat manufacturing business, a move that could bring 300 jobs to the Triad.

Kip Blakely, TIMCO’s vice president of sales and marketing, said the company is considering numerous other sites to grow Brice Seating, a Pacoima, Calif., firm it bought six years ago.

Brice makes seats for commercial airlines and military planes and currently employs 225 people. The expansion would be the first for the company.

Blakely said TIMCO could expand at its California site, but is also considering options in Alabama, Georgia and at least six locations in North Carolina.

“We literally have looked west to east and are still looking,” Blakely said. “It’s a great opportunity for our company. We very much want to bring the jobs to North Carolina.”

He added: “We have to look for the most competitive community to expand this business. We are not asking for incentives, but in every state there are incentives available.”

Blakely could not provide details about TIMCO’s pay scale, saying that depends on where the company decides to locate.

He said the company plans to begin hiring for the new jobs in the fourth quarter of this year. The majority would be manufacturing positions.

“We have orders on the books for 2011 that we need to fill,” he said.

Blakely would not provide specifics about the other Tar Heel sites under consideration.

“I just don’t want to start naming counties,” he said. “We have the option of manufacturing our seats at our Greensboro facility, but we are looking at other options in North Carolina. We have looked at six different counties and we may look at more yet.”