State officials celebrate the opening of MHI RJ aviation hangar in Bridgeport
Oct. 14—BRIDGEPORT — Culture from Japan and Canada gathered in West Virginia to celebrate the opening of a new state-of-the-art Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Regional Jets Aviation Group hangar.
A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Thursday afternoon in the newly-built facility at the North Central Regional Airport Aerotech Business Park. The facility will be used for airplane maintenance, repair and overhaul. At the ceremony, guests were able to enjoy live Japanese-style drumming, an aerial acrobatic duo and speeches from a variety of leaders.
MHI RJ is the largest regional MRO in the world. It is owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group and based out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. CEOs from both companies were in attendance and gave short speeches. MHI RJ CEO Hiroaki Ya-Mamoto and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries CEO Seiji Izumisawa visited West Virginia from Japan for the first time.
"This is the facility that you deserve and our colleagues deserve, and also that this beautiful and wonderful airport deserves and this community deserves. We are committed to stay here — this is the showing of our commitment and our willingness to work together with the people here," Ya-Momoto said about the company's dedication to the Bridgeport area.
The completion of the hangar marks the end of phase one of the build, which will cost $19.1 million to complete. By the end of the project, 100,000 square feet of operating space will be added to the airport's campus. The build for this hangar began in 2021 and they are already working on the completion of their second. One-thousand jobs will be available with the completion of the hangar.
The hangar is named after Steven McCoy, who worked in the business for over a decade.
"He really made it his life mission to invest in this type of infrastructure. He was about to retire a couple years ago and he pushed his retirement twice to be able to see this project through," Senior Vice President and Head of Aftermarket at MHI RJ Ismail Mokabel said.
Some of the speakers included Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., W.Va. Sen. Michael Romano, D-Harrison County and Harrison County Commissioner David Hinkle. Many of the speakers said it was one of the best days ever or the best day in their career.
"This is a milestone for our state. Let me say this to all of you to all the workers, all of you who work here at Mitsubishi, I can tell you, no matter what we do as a state matters. What we do in the federal government, people won't come unless there's people like you and that's people that can work and do the job," Manchin said.
Romano agreed.
"This feels was like Christmas. I mean, it's such a great moment for all of West Virginia," Romano said.
At the ceremony, it was announced that Pierpont Community and Technical College will be expanding its Aviation Maintenance Technology program to be able to graduate up to 200 students a year. The program will be moved to the North Central Regional Airport Aerotech Business Park over the next two years.
Hinkle, who also serves as chairman of the Board of Governors for Pierpont, said he is very excited for the project. W.Va. Sen. Craig Blair agreed.
"Thank you for choosing West Virginia," Blair said to MHI RJ employees. "You could have gone anywhere in this country, in lots of cases, anywhere in the world. You chose West Virginia, give yourself a round of applause. Learning is a lifelong experience and we all must understand that if we're going to be successful. That is why we need to just enjoy our education system. This is why we're investing in Pierpont, for our future together for all of us."
For more information on MHIRJ, visit their website.
Reach me at sshriver@timeswv.com or 304-367-2549.
