Jun 18, 2007 8:36 pm US/Central
Petters Aviation May Take Over NWA Base In Duluth
Duluth, Minn. (AP) ―
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Northwest Airlines once employed 350 people at the facility, but the 189,000-square-foot base has sat idle since August 2005.
NWA
Petters Aviation may take over the closed Northwest Airlines maintenance facility in Duluth and use it to customize corporate and personal jets, city officials said Monday.
The Duluth Economic Development Authority will meet Tuesday to consider authorizing a letter of intent calling for Petters Aviation to spend up to 120 days conducting a feasibility study and up 60 more days to negotiate a final lease on the maintenance base, which has been vacant for nearly two years.
Jay Salmen, president of Petters Aviation, told the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal that the move should add up to 150 new jobs to Duluth.
Petters Aviation also has an agreement with aircraft maker Airbus to complete work on business jets at the facility. Salmen told the Business Journal there's a worldwide shortage of such completion centers, which provide finishing touches and customization for business jets after the major construction is done. Most customers will be corporations and high-net-worth individuals, he said.
"Our hope in starting this facility is not only to capitalize on that shortage, but also be a good corporate citizen of the state of Minnesota," he said.
Petters Aviation is a unit of Minnetonka-based Petters Group Worldwide, a privately held company led by entrepreneur Tom Petters, and owns a stake in Mendota Heights-based Sun Country Airlines.
Northwest Airlines once employed 350 people at the facility, but the 189,000-square-foot base has sat idle since August 2005, when union mechanics went on a failed strike against Northwest, which later filed for bankruptcy, closed the taxpayer-financed facility and ultimately turned it back to the city.
"We're very excited about the real possibility of bringing Petters Aviation here," Mayor Herb Bergson said in a statement. "They have a great reputation within the industry and have the capability to fully utilize the building. I'm very hopeful an agreement can be reached."
U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., who chairs the House Transportation Committee, expressed optimism about the deal.
"This is an excellent sign that Duluth will find a new tenant and bring good jobs back to the city," Oberstar said in a statement.
Petters would pay DEDA $15,000 per month to maintain the facility during negotiations.
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Sun Country Airlines started operating in 1982, with 33 employees.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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