Joby Aviation has announced plans to locate its first scaled aircraft production facility in Dayton, Ohio, the birthplace of aviation. The Wright Brothers, who invented and flew the first powered aircraft, lived and worked in Dayton and opened the first airplane factory in the United States there in 1910. The city is also home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the headquarters of the US Air Force Research Laboratories, which has played a key role in supporting Joby’s development.
Joby plans to build a facility capable of delivering up to 500 aircraft per year at the Dayton International Airport, which it says will support up to 2,000 jobs. The 140-acre site it has selected has the potential to support significant further growth over time, providing enough land to build up to two million square feet of manufacturing space.
Of the development costs for the new facility, US$325 million will be met by grants and other incentives from The State of Ohio, JobsOhio and local political subdivisions, while Joby plans to invest up to $500m as it scales its operations at the site. Joby has also announced that it has been invited by the US Department of Energy to submit a Part II Application for financing under the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program, which provides access to low-interest loans for clean energy projects and would support the scaling of the facility.
“We’re building the future of aviation right where it all started, in Dayton, Ohio,” said JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby. “The Wright Brothers harnessed the revolutionary technology of their time to open up the skies, and we intend to do the same – this time, bringing quiet and emissions-free flight that we hope will have an equally profound impact on our world.”
Construction of the scaled Ohio facility is expected to start in 2024, and it is expected to come online in 2025. Joby plans to use existing nearby buildings to begin near-term operations.
