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Bell 505 Lafayette assembly facility moves forward

Bell Helicopter Press Release | August 27, 2014

Estimated reading time 1 minute, 51 seconds.

Bell Helicopter has begun building its facility in Lafayette, La., where the company will assemble its newest commercial helicopter, the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X. Gov. Bobby Jindal, Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Durel and others joined Bell Helicopter’s president and CEO, John Garrison, to commemorate the occasion today at the Lafayette Regional Airport.

The 82,300-square-foot, $26.3-million hangar facility will be built on a 14.5-acre site. Bell Helicopter will lease the facility from the Lafayette Regional Airport. The project is funded by the State of Louisiana and the company plans to invest $11.4 million in equipment and tooling. Bell Helicopter expects to begin hiring employees for the new facility by 2015, and assembly operations are expected to start by 2016 following certification of the facility and the aircraft. The facility is expected to create 115 new jobs in Lafayette, and LED estimates the aerospace project will result in an additional 136 jobs, for a total of more than 250 new jobs in Acadiana.

Work on the new Lafayette facility began Monday, Aug. 18 and the company is currently on schedule to meet the June 1, 2015, deadline for certificate of occupancy.

In addition to creating 115 new jobs at the Bell 505 assembly facility, Bell Helicopter will maintain more than 60 existing jobs in the region associated with two existing facilities that perform rotor blade and composite repair and overhaul.

Assembly of the first Bell 505 test aircraft is progressing at Bell Helicopter’s commercial assembly facility in Mirabel, Canada, and first flight is expected to take place by the end of 2014. Type Certificate activities with Transport Canada and Production Certification activities with the Federal Aviation Administration are also underway.

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