Lt. Gov. Fisher announces up to 430 new jobs in Wilmington Air Park

Last fall, Wilmington lost approximately 8,000 jobs when private delivery carrier DHL announced a major restructuring that called for the termination of its Wilmington air transport hub (a private airport that had operately exclusively for the use of DHL since Airborne Express was brought by Belgium-based DHL. 

Today, Lt. Governor Lee Fisher announced 430 new jobs were coming back to the Wilmington Air Park.  From the Dayton Daily News (HT: Fisher for Senate campaign):

The state will provide a total of $5.2 million in assistance to a new aircraft maintenance company that plans to hire up to 430 people within three years at Wilmington Air Park, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher said Tuesday, March 10.

The state support includes a 10-year, $3.8 million tax credit, training grants and a low-interest loan to complement a $5.9 million investment by Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services Inc., Fisher announced at a meeting of a task force planning the region's economic redevelopment.

Air Transport Services Group Inc., of Wilmington, formed the maintenance subsidiary in response to the loss of thousands of jobs at the DHL-owned airport caused by DHL's ongoing restructuring cutbacks there, Fisher said.

The company plans to start operation May 1. ATSG's subsidiary ABX Air, the cargo airline that runs the airport for DHL, will lease a hangar, warehouse and office space at the Wilmington airport and buy machinery and equipment.

...

The aircraft maintenance work will fit nicely into the airport's mission and offers the possibility of becoming a growth industry, said Wilmington Mayor David Raizk, who co-chairs the economic development task force with Fisher.

The company will provide maintenance, repair and overhaul services for aircraft including Boeing 767s, 757s and 727s, DC-9s and MD-80s, said Brady Templeton, general manager of Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services.

Company officials said they expect to hire current ABX Air employees and workers who have lost their jobs to staff the new operation. The company could reach the 430-person hiring goal as soon as mid-2010, Templeton said Tuesday.

Airborne Maintenance has started hiring some management staff and expects within two weeks to post jobs for aircraft maintenance technicians, Templeton said. The company has received at least 100 applications for approximately 10 jobs posted so far, he said.

Job applications should go through the company's Web site at www.airbornemx.com, he said.

Yes, this is only 5% of the jobs lost, but it is progress in troubling times for a community in serious needs of good economic news.  One of biggest complaints is that Fisher hasn't explained what he did when he was Director of the Ohio Department of Development that justifies his run for the U.S. Senate, so I'm glad to see the campaign respond to that.  His record at the Ohio Department of Development is going to be the #1 issue for Fisher in both the primary, and if he is nominated, the general election.

The more they get stories like that out there tying Fisher to positive economic storie, the better off his Senate campaign will be.