Oscoda leaders want state to help it push for new jet factory

The Bay City Times covers this story regarding possible expansion of the Oscoda-Wurstsmith Airport into an airplane manufacturing site for Airbus. Last year Oscoda pitched Boeing 7E7 manufacturing but lost to a site in Tennesse.

Officials at Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport want European airplane-manufacturing giant Airbus to consider the old Iosco County bomber base for a proposed jet factory. Thomas Salter, Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport manager, said the airport is one of a handful in Michigan seeking Michigan Economic Development Corp. support in a bid to land an Airbus factory. "We met with MEDC last week in Lansing, and there were at least six airports represented at that meeting," Salter said Wednesday. "The state is going to have to pare down the list to three airports and then they'll forward those three to Airbus."

Airbus, doing business as EADS North America, announced in January it will conduct a nationwide search to find a site for a proposed $600 million factory complex that would employ up to 1,000 people. The factory will only be built if Airbus wins an upcoming contract from the U.S. Air Force to build a new generation of aerial refueling aircraft.

The MEDC met last week with representatives from Oscoda-Wurtsmith, Alpena Regional, Kent County International, Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Chippewa County Airport and Sawyer Airport in the Upper Peninsula, Salter said. The state will pick three airports this month to submit proposals to Airbus, he said. The company is expected to choose a location in the United States by year's end.