Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. marked the opening of its new maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at company headquarters in Savannah with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Gulfstream East Campus, opened to accommodate fleet growth, has been operational since Sept. 11.

The 202,000-square-foot/18,766-square-meter building located on the east side of Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport was built with an investment of more than $55 million and gives Gulfstream more than 1 million sq ft/92,903 sq m of dedicated MRO hangar, office and back shop space in Savannah. The expansion, announced in April 2018, is expected to result in approximately 200 Customer Support-related jobs over several years, some of which will be filled by graduates of Savannah Technical College’s Aviation Technology Division.

“This is a great day for our customers as well as Savannah, Chatham County and Gulfstream,” said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. “We are very excited about this expansion, which follows the recent entry into service of our two all-new aircraft, the Gulfstream G500™ and Gulfstream G600™. To help ensure those aircraft and the rest of our growing fleet continue to have the best service and support in the industry, we built and staffed this fabulous facility.”

“We are grateful to many for their critical support in this project, including our parent company, General Dynamics; Savannah Technical College; the Georgia Department of Economic Development; the Savannah Economic Development Authority; the Savannah Airport Commission; and the city of Savannah.”

Gulfstream’s announcement today came before an audience of employees along with state and local dignitaries, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

In August, Gulfstream opened a service center expansion in Appleton, Wisconsin, and has a service center opening scheduled for late 2019 or early 2020 in Van Nuys, California. Overall, the company will open three service center expansions and two new service centers in 2019 and 2020, adding approximately 790,000 sq ft/73,393 sq m of dedicated MRO hangars, offices and back shops in the U.S. and Europe. Gulfstream’s worldwide in-service fleet is approximately 2,800.

“Our customers choose to return to Gulfstream facilities for their service and support because they value the relationship and expertise only we can provide,” Burns said. “By growing the number of maintenance facilities and combining them with our fleet of rapid-response vehicles and Gulfstream Field and Airborne Support Teams™ technicians, we’re offering our customers more service and support options, more accessibility and more flexibility.”

Like the existing Gulfstream Savannah Service Center, the largest business aviation-dedicated MRO facility worldwide at nearly 680,000 sq ft/63,174 sq m, the Gulfstream East Campus offers operators a multitude of services, including aircraft-on-ground resources, hourly and calendar-driven airframe inspections, avionics installations and interior refurbishments.

Gulfstream’s Savannah MRO operations are certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, European Aviation Safety Agency, Civil Aviation Administration of China and more than 20 other civil aviation authorities worldwide. In 2018, Savannah had more than 1,500 aircraft visits.

The Gulfstream East Campus is expected to receive U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification because of its sustainable features, which include energy-efficient lighting, enhanced control systems for heating and cooling, optimized energy performance, recycling at least 75 percent of construction waste, low-emitting building materials, water-saving fixtures and preferred parking for low-emission vehicles.