Guthrie Industrial Development Authority Provides
Incentives
Excel-Jet, Ltd announced it reached a financial agreement with
the Guthrie, Oklahoma Industrial Development Authority. "We've
completed negotiations and Excel-Jet will be relocating its
facility to Guthrie within 90-120 days," said company president and
designer, Bob Bornhofen. Excel-jet has been based in Colorado since
its inception in 2002.
Guthrie Economic Development Director, Alba Weaver, said, "We've
created a partnership with Excel-Jet and have secured a first phase
of funding." A $3-5 million package from local and state resources
will allow Sport-Jet to move deeply into flight testing leading to
the start of certification work later in the year. "Working with
Bob Bornhofen and the Excel-Jet team has been a most pleasant
experience," added Weaver. "Bob and his staff are professional,
know what they want, and where they are going.
Glenn Hayes is City Manager for Guthrie. "Excel-Jet will be
located near two other world-class aviation organizations (Zivko
and Spirit Wing) which will make for good synergy," he stated,
adding that the cities of Guthrie and Edmond have joined forces to
develop the airport for use by both communities and have hired a
professional airport manager to direct the growth of the airport.
"We're also extending runways and improving the approach navigation
facilities," Hays noted.
"We are extremely pleased about relocating to the Guthrie Edmond
Airport which is also home to Zivko's Edge 540 aerobatic aircraft
and Spirit Wing Lear, which equips Lear Series 20 business jets
with new Williams FJ44 turbofans," reported Bornhofen. "Everyone in
the city and airport share the same entrepreneurial attitude and
business goals that we have." Excel-Jet says it has been looking
for a more GA-compatible environment to support flight testing and
production. "We are excited about the synergy and potential at
Guthrie," said Bornhofen. City officials refer to the airport
facility as GEOPORT for Guthrie Edmond Oklahoma Port for Air
Industry and Research. They say GEOPORT has grown more than 95% of
other airports in Oklahoma. Airframe modification work for the
space tourism-oriented Rocketplane was also done in Guthrie by
Spirit Wing.
Excel-Jet will be integrating the FJ33 engine into the Sport-Jet
and then fly to its new home in Guthrie to complete the
pre-certification flight-testing. The company expects to start
certification within a few months of relocating. "We really did not
want to start the extensive flight testing program here and then
move in mid-stream so we have been delaying this phase until we
found a permanent home," explained Bornhofen.
Excel-Jet's new Sport-Jet is a 4+1 seat, single-engine,
all-glass aircraft aimed at the general aviation pilot. Sport-Jet
has been designed for single-person operation by a pilot trained in
piston-powered airplanes. Many advanced features and a simplified
design eases pilot workload. "This will contribute significantly to
the insurability of the aircraft when operated by
nonprofessionals," added Bornhofen.
Airsure, Ltd., supports his comment stating, "Weighing in all
the factors which are considered for a new aircraft coming to
market, we feel encouraged that you have developed a product for
which we will have no problem developing competitive insurance
rates."
Sport-Jet will sell for about $1 million, cruise at 340 knots at
25,000 feet (above 95% of all weather), and can carry four persons
over 900 nautical miles.
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