Icon will establish a production plant in the city of Tijuana, in Baja, Mexico, company spokesman Brian Manning told AVweb on Tuesday, confirming an online report published over the weekend at a Tijuana news site. The new facility will produce composite airframe components for the A5 assembly plant in Vacaville, California, Manning said. It’s scheduled to open early next year. “The new Tijuana facility is part of Icon’s revised business plan announced in May of this year,” Manning said. “That plan includes in-sourcing all composite manufacturing to optimize quality and cost, and will allow the company to significantly ramp up production in the coming months and years.”
According toEltijuanese.com, the new plant will employ more than 1,000 people and more than $150 million will be invested. Icon CEO Kirk Hawkins, who is expected to hold a news conference in Tijuana on Thursday, told AVweb all of Icon’s facilities in Tijuana will total over 300,000 square feet of new construction. “Parts will be made on Icon tooling, by Icon processes, to Icon quality standards, in Icon facilities,” Hawkins said.Icon put delivery plans on holdwhile the company works to develop its supply chain and finesse its production process. About 20 airplanes are in the works at Vacaville, which will be used for training at regional Icon Flight Centers. “The Vacaville IFC opened this summer, a Florida IFC is set to open this fall, and a Texas IFC is slated to open in Q1 of 2017,” Manning said. Hawkins added that 30 customers have now completed flight training in California, and said the 12th A5 was delivered to a customer.
