US Airways Flight Operations Center with 600 Jobs

[monsoon]

In what appears to be a repeat of the Nascar HOF deal, the new USAirways has decided to build a new mission control center in either Charlotte or Pittsburgh or Phoenix. (they call it Flight Operations Center) These 3 places where picked because the old mission control USAir is in Pittsburth, the old mission control for American West is in Arizona, and of course Charlotte is the place where they actually fly a lot of planes. These are most likely 600 high paid high skill jobs since this purpose of this place is to be the nerve center that controls when where and how every flight in the airline's network operates. The plan to build a building somewhat less than 100K sq/ft that will be a single story due to the threat of terrorism. This would make up for some job lossses experienced at the airport due to the downsizing that took place when USAir was in bankrupcy court.

There would no doubt be additional jobs created in the area to service this place if it were built here.

I assume that Jerry Orr will be responsible for pulling together the deal for Charlotte. It will be interesting to see what the city can afford to offer in this deal considering how much cash it is burning up on other projects.

[monsoon]

More information can be found in this article. It's interesting that each city has to get a proposal of incentives together by Oct 15th. That is a fairly short time for something this big.

[uptownliving]

I am sure that the State will help out with tax incentives as they have in the past. Both Mecklenburg and Charlotte will not have any problems giving out their typical property tax rebates as it doesn't cost them anything...just lowers their potential tax for a certain amount of time.

This is something that I hope Charlotte is able to get.

[Miesian Corners]

^or Lancaster County, SC.

[dubone]

I somewhat hope that Meck or Gaston county gets it. Gaston is close to the airport, but is struggling for both population and jobs. But SC gets enough jobs, and NC needs the revenue.

[uptownliving]

Yeah, both York and Lancaster would be able to offer better tax incentives than Char-Meck. I would hate to see Charlotte lose out on these high paying jobs to York and Lancaster...but I would rather have them in York/Lancaster than Pittsburgh or Phoenix.

Doesn't Cary have one of American Airlines Ops center...or is that just a reservation center?

[rooster8]

Gosh it is annoying to see Charlotte, NC in news articles.

[ScottCLT]

Gosh it is annoying to see Charlotte, NC in news articles.

I think I understand this post....that is, the fact that they have to add "NC" to "Charlotte," as if people wouldn't know where it was otherwise. Phoenix isn't "Phoenix, AZ" in this article, but Charlotte is "Charlotte, NC." It reminds me of when sports shows refer to the speedway in "Concord, NC." Concord is obviously not a nationally known city, but Charlotte has escaped that for the most part.

I travel a lot...all over the country, every week. From all the people I have talked to both work-related and out at bars and restaurants in other cities, I must say that I think Charlotte has gained more national recognition over the past couple years. I have noticed that I no longer have to add the "NC" when I say where I'm from while in California or Arizona or Texas or Minnesota or wherever that isn't in the southeast. I agree, it's annoying. I can recall plenty of occasions in the past (even recent past) when someone I was working with in another state responded with "Oh...Charlotte...South Carolina, right?" But, I don't see it often.

I also think that the whole "Charlotte, USA" campaign plastered around in the airport is a bit derogatory to other NC residents. I mean, it's not like we want to secede, so why can't we just be proud of our state and not pretend like we aren't a member of it? On one hand, it seems like we wish that everyone knew the state we were from, but on the other, it seems like we don't want to be from this state ("we" not including me).

This probably really belongs in another thread, but you sparked my response here.

[monsoon]

Apparently this facility can't be near a highway or railroad. I am not sure what near means, but it will be interesting what this requirement does to the proposal.

[dubone]

That is a very bizarre requirement. Maybe that is an attempt to have the people working there live near by. Still, it is quite an odd expectation.

[Miesian Corners]

Here's the text of the letter sent to CLT, PHX and PIT. Hope this clears up your questions regarding highway and rail exposure.

US Airways is soliciting proposals for the location of the new Operations Headquarters (known as the Operations Control Center (OCC)) (including a backup site) of the airline. Attached are the preliminary Facilities Requirements for you to consider in preparing your response. In September 2005, US Airways and America West Airlines merged forming the largest low fare airline in the World, providing service to more than 230 destinations in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The new airline has hub operations in Charlotte, Phoenix, and Philadelphia with focus city operations in Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Boston, New York - La Guardia, and Washington Reagan National Airport. The new US Airways is also a member of the Star Alliance, the first global airline alliance comprising 16 of the world

[Miesian Corners]

If the state lets this get away while it bent over backwards for Dell's lousy paying jobs in Winston, I'll be P.O.'d! The average annual pay for US Airways dispatchers is $65K, compared to Dell's $27K for factory workers. The state, Winston and Forsyth County gave Dell around $280million in incentives (as well as free land and transportation improvements to interchanges and the area road network). I think we can afford $25 million for US Airways.

[monsoon]

I agree with you on the Dell situation. That was a disgrace.

It seems to me there are several places in URP where this facility could be located and meet the requirements of that letter. The park was designed specifically for this type of facility and has the power and other setback requirements they are requesting.

[RaleighHeelsfan]

You know, there are people out there who can only get 27k a year jobs. I'm sure they're happy about the Dell plant.

[atlrvr]

Yes...but the state is gave away more in incentive than Dell is investing in the state....the incentives last for 10 years and then Dell is free to leave, as they did in Tennessee.....sorry, but there are plenty of more worthwhile investments.....

[SmellyCat]

Well then I'm glad Dell's share price has fallen by a third since February. Serves them right.

[A2]

If the state lets this get away while it bent over backwards for Dell's lousy paying jobs in Winston, I'll be P.O.'d! The average annual pay for US Airways dispatchers is $65K, compared to Dell's $27K for factory workers. The state, Winston and Forsyth County gave Dell around $280million in incentives (as well as free land and transportation improvements to interchanges and the area road network). I think we can afford $25 million for US Airways.

Now there is a total waste of tax payers money. Do these guys at the state even know how to perform simple math??? What kind of return on their investment are they looking for from this, -30% or something

A2

[dubone]

Yeah, it was so weird that so much was given to Dell. Hopefully, the state will realize this project is a significantly better deal than the Dell deal, and participate.

[Miesian Corners]

I should clairify that I did not mean to disparage anyone who works at Dell in Winston. Jobs are hard to come by and I should not have used the word "lousy" when describing them. Sorry if I offended.

My issue is with the deal Dell was given, due to the poor return in investment our state (and Winston) will see. As altrvr said, there is nothing stopping Dell from jumping ship in 10 years just like they did in Nashville.

In 1999, Dell announced plans to locate its first manufacturing facility (outside Texas) in or near Nashville. The plan was supposed to create thousands of jobs. The winner of the competition was Nashville itself, which offered Dell a package including:

• free land for the site worth $6.5 million

• 40 years of property tax abatements

• $20 million in infrastructure improvements at the site funded by the city and state

• one-time credits of $2,000 per employee against state franchise and excise taxes

• Metro Nashville tax credits of $500 per employee for 40 years

• industrial machinery state tax credits

• $4,000 per employee to pay for job training costs (refundable after workers were hired).

In return Dell agreed to build both a manufacturing plant and a technical-support center that was expected to employ 1,000 people by the end of the 2000 and a total of 3,000 within five years. The estimated the cost of incentives over the life of the agreement would be more than $200 million. However, in February 2002, Dell announced that it was eliminating all manufacturing operations at the Nashville facility, which would become what the company called a logistics and merge center. Dell said it would move its Tennessee manufacturing operations to a plant it had built in Lebanon, 25 miles east of Nashville.

[Subway Scoundrel]

I think the issue with W-S and the Dell deal is so many people lost textile and furniture jobs in that area that lower paying job are what that area needed.

Also, myself "being in the business", the Dell plant will drive many outside jobs. Suppliers will move offices in, all supplier will set up "parts pull hubs", and not to mention how well this will work with the new FED Ex hub which will concrete the hub along with what that brings. Take Louisville for example. So many jobs have been driven to that area because the UPS hub was

[dubone]

It is odd, because even though I was mostly indifferent, I generally thought the Dell deal was a good idea. I've seen first hand the problems with finding jobs in Winston, and believed it was a great way to start a new industry trend there.

But I didn't realize a) we are paying more than they are investing and b) they can leave so easily.

With those two facts, I am now really regretting it for the state that they were taken so easily in those negotiations.

This US Airways deal is looking juicier and juicier. But, the state has a tendency to think of Charlotte as a cash cow. They don't usually imagine investing much here, even if the return is significantly higher. That goes for roads, trains, economic development, you name it.

[BobbyRobert]

The Dell deal is even worse than it first appears. Since most incentives payments for 'mega projects' are intended to be loss leaders the state never expects that investments in the core mega factories will repay themselves. The return on investment comes from the arrival of the factory's supplier

[monsoon]

Charlotte did not win USAirways new flight operations center. According to other posts on UrbanPlanet, it is going to Pittsburgh.

[Bled_man]

Charlotte did not win USAirways new flight operations center. According to other posts on UrbanPlanet, it is going to Pittsburgh.

[dubone]

This is a shame, but given the massive hit USAirways has dealt Pittsburgh, I guess this is some sort of consolation prize.

The jobs would have been a big gain, but I guess given our low unemployment, we are getting jobs without having to give away the farm, so maybe that is a more sustainable strategy.