Governor John Bel Edwards and Bob Madigan, vice president-maintenance for ExpressJet Airlines, announced the company will undertake a $400,000 expansion at its aircraft maintenance facility at Shreveport Regional Airport that will result in more than 70 new direct and indirect jobs.
With the expansion, ExpressJet will create 35 new direct jobs with an average annual salary of $60,000, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project also will result in 36 new indirect jobs, for a total of more than 70 new jobs for Shreveport and the Northwest Region. In addition, the project will retain 250 existing ExpressJet jobs at the Shreveport facility. Coinciding with the Shreveport growth, ExpressJet plans to hire eight to 10 net new jobs during 2016 at its Baton Rouge maintenance facility, where the company currently employs more than 60 people.
Governor Edwards said, “Shreveport Regional Airport has played a vital role in the growth of the Northwest Louisiana economy, and ExpressJet Airlines has been a partner in that success for many years. We are happy to see ExpressJet grow its operations in Louisiana. With the creation of 35 new jobs, this project underscores the premium Louisiana places on developing a skilled workforce for businesses and industries to thrive here.”
ExpressJet maintains a fleet of more than 300 jet aircraft, operating as Delta Connection, American Eagle and United Express with mainline partners Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines, respectively. The company has operated an aircraft maintenance facility in Shreveport since 2003. The expansion project will add a fifth heavy maintenance and overhaul operation, known as a C-check line. The company’s Shreveport complex currently has four C-check lines for extensive high-level checks of individual systems and components on ExpressJet aircraft.
“ExpressJet is pleased to expand our Shreveport facility by adding a fifth C-check heavy maintenance line to the location,” Madigan said. “This expansion will bring 35 additional skilled jobs to the Shreveport area to support the excellent work our people do there each day. Our maintenance operation has called the State of Louisiana home for the past 15 years. We’re pleased to continue that positive relationship through our Shreveport work-scope expansion.”
LED’s Business Expansion and Retention Group, or BERG, began discussing a potential project with the company in August 2015. To secure the project, LED offered ExpressJet the comprehensive workforce solutions of LED FastStart®, the nation’s top-ranked state workforce development program. In addition, the company is expected to utilize the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.
ExpressJet has installed its C-check line upgrade and has begun filling the new jobs, with the full hiring process expected to be completed by April.
“We are excited that ExpressJet has decided to further invest in our community by creating more job opportunities for our local workforce,” Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler said. “This partnership has worked very well and is a great example of the kind of expansion we hope for with all our business partners.”
“The North Louisiana Economic Partnership is pleased that ExpressJet made this important commitment to Shreveport,” NLEP President Scott Martinez said. “This expansion solidifies this important driver company in North Louisiana’s aviation sector, and we look forward to ExpressJet’s continued growth in our community.”
About ExpressJet Airlines
Headquartered in Atlanta, ExpressJet is the world’s largest regional airline with 8,500 aviation professionals, an average of 1,500 daily flights and an all-jet fleet of 311 aircraft. ExpressJet operates as American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express to serve more than 180 airports in the U.S., Bahamas, Canada, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Mexico and Turks and Caicos Islands. For more information, visit ExpressJet.com.