Feb. 26, 2004

Perry Announces $35 Million Grant for Vought Aircraft

Texas Enterprise Fund Investment Will Bring 3,000 Jobs to Dallas

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today announced a $35 million commitment by the Texas Enterprise Fund to Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc., to assist the companies’ expansion in Texas. Vought, the largest privately owned aerostructures manufacturing company in the nation, will bring 3,000 jobs to the Dallas area by 2009.

“With this commitment in Texas Enterprise Fund money, we are doing our part to leverage a major economic expansion by a valuable Texas employer that will bring 3,000 new jobs to Texas, attract additional employers to our state, and provide the revenue we need to sustain important public investments in areas like education and health care,” Perry said.

“Taxpayers can know that this is a wise investment of public dollars because, once this expansion is finalized, the annual return will be more than twice the original investment,” he added.

Vought is planning to bring jobs from facilities in two other states to Texas. The two facilities will be transitioned gradually to the Dallas manufacturing location over the next 18 to 36 months.

“Today Texans have great cause for celebration,” Perry said. “A historic company with deep ties to Texas is taking the next big step, adding 3,000 direct jobs over the next five years and helping to boost the Texas economy, expand opportunity in related fields, and prompt other employers to look to Texas as the model for economic growth and a great place to do business.”

Perry also said that both state and local government are committed to making sure that Hensley Field is open in time so that Vought has access to a 24-hour, private airfield for the shipment of all goods and parts. He also announced that Texas will provide job training assistance through the Texas Workforce Commission.

“The creation, retention and attraction of jobs is one of my top priorities as governor of Texas,” Perry said. “The State of Texas is now one of the most aggressive states in the nation when it comes to competing for jobs because we want to create unlimited opportunity and prosperity for all Texans. We recognize there is no more stable source of revenue for critical public investments than good-paying jobs and economic growth.”

As part of the project, Vought will enter into a strategic partnership with the University of Texas at Arlington to establish an aerospace engineering research program.

Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc., is one of the world's largest independent suppliers of aerostructures. Headquartered in Dallas, the company designs and manufactures major airframe structures such as wings, fuselage subassemblies, empennages, nacelles and other components for prime manufacturers of aircraft. Vought has annual sales of approximately $1.2 billion and more than 6,000 employees in seven U.S. locations.

Perry successfully urged the Texas Legislature in 2003 to appropriate $295 million to the Texas Enterprise Fund to help Texas create new jobs and grow its economy. This is the third project funded with Enterprise Fund money

In June, the state committed $50 million to enhance engineering and computer science programs at the University of Texas at Dallas. The investment played a key role in Texas Instruments’ decision to build a new $3 billion research and manufacturing plant in Richardson. The state also committed $1.5 million to Maxim for a new semiconductor facility in San Antonio that will likely create 600 new jobs over the next three to four years.