AIRCRAFT MAKER STILL INTERESTED IN AIRPORT; ZENAIR DECISION EXPECTED SOON

A Canadian aircraft manufacturer is expected soon to announce if it will open a manufacturing plant at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

The manufacturer, Zenair, which is headquartered in Toronto, is considering the airport for a plant to manufacture a two-seat training aircraft.

Airport officials and the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association have been jointly negotiating with the company for the past several months.

"We continue to work with Zenair and are trying to work out the finishing details of the project," said Mitch Robinson, executive director of the recruitment association. "It's taken longer than we had hoped, but we still feel very positive."

As of September, Zenair had been considering three sites in the United States.

Airport Manager Bruce Loy said the company recently informed him that the list had been trimmed to Cape Girardeau and one other contender.

Loy said the company has been tight-lipped about identifying the other cities under consideration.

Zenair had hoped to have a site chosen by now. "They are telling us they hope to have a location chosen in the next couple weeks," Loy said.

Local representatives continue working to develop an attractive financial incentive plan for the company to locate here.

In September, the Cape Girardeau City Council voted to issue up to $8.5 million in industrial revenue bonds to pay for construction of a building and the purchase of equipment for the proposed operation. The company would be responsible for paying off the bonds and would own the facility.

Since the airport is in a designated enterprise zone, the company would benefit from a 50 percent abatement on real estate taxes and could also qualify for state tax credits.

Robinson said he was not at liberty to discuss further details of the negotiations.

Zenair wants to build a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing plant with an additional 4,000-square-feet for offices. If Cape Girardeau is chosen, the company would initially employ between 25 and 50 people locally, and quickly expand to more than 100, Loy said.

The company already operates one plant in Missouri. Its plant at Mexico produces a kit aircraft.

Loy said neither that site nor any other in the state is being considered for the training aircraft manufacturing plant.

Robinson said the airport's image and reputation would improve if the company chooses to locate there. It would be the only manufacturing plant at the airport.

"The word would be out about Cape Girardeau, and I think you would see some other aviation-related businesses come to support that plant," Robinson said.

"We would like to see this deal get done and to see them come here."