MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — Aviation is big business in Arizona—and it’s about to get a lot bigger in Marana. At Pinal Air Park a partnership of companies is hiring for the big job of converting jumbo jets into cargo carriers.
The Boeing 777 is a widely used long haul airliner. But after a few years of carrying passengers, some plane owners see carrying cargo as a way to elevate profits with an older aircraft.
That’s where two large hangars at Pinal Airpark come in.
They will be the new home of a partnership between Ascent Aviation Services and IAI—Israel Aerospace Industries.
IAI is the pioneer in converting Boeing 777s into wide body cargo carriers.
The companies say they’re hiring about three hundred workers with an average pay of $77,000 a year.
They estimate once those employees start spending their pay the ripple effect will land $35 to $40 million dollars into the local economy.
Cary Benjamin of Done Rite Services anticipates some of that business rippling his way.
“Those are people that buy homes. They're going to go out to new businesses that are going to need services that we provide, HVAC, plumbing and electrical. So to us as a service provider in the Marana area, it's definitely going to have a positive impact on us.”
The Chamber of Southern Arizona works to convince businesses to come here. Joe Snell of the Chamber says Arizona’s aviation history and the resources of Pinal Air Park helped attract this cargo conversion partnership.
“I think we've done a good job as a community of laying out why this is a good opportunity for them, and they were smart enough to take it and run with it. You know, in southern Arizona, aerospace and defense, we have the fifth highest concentration of workers in that field in the country right now. So it's really, we really should be doing more in this space than others.”
And Snell says when companies locate here it attracts the attention of other companies that may decide Southern Arizona is a good place for them too.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
