Gulfstream East Campus opens at company headquarters

General Dynamics subsidiary Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. opened its new maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility at company headquarters in Savannah, Georgia, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Gulfstream East Campus, opened to accommodate fleet growth, has been operational since Sept. 11, 2019.

The 202,000ft² (18,766m²) building on the east side of Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport was built with an investment of more than $55 million and gives Gulfstream more than 1,000,000ft² (92,903m²) of dedicated MRO hangar, office, and back shop space in Savannah. The expansion, announced in April 2018, is expected to add approximately 200 customer support-related jobs within several years, some of which will be filled by graduates of Savannah Technical College's Aviation Technology Division.

Gulfstream's announcement came before an audience of employees along with state and local dignitaries, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

In August, Gulfstream opened a service center expansion in Appleton, Wisconsin – a $40 million, nearly 190,000ft² (17,652m²) building northeast of the airport terminal.

The company also has a service center opening scheduled for late 2019 or early 2020 in Van Nuys, California. In all, the company will open three service center expansions and two new service centers in 2019 and 2020, adding approximately 790,000ft² (73,393m²) of dedicated MRO hangars, offices, and back shops in the U.S. and Europe to accommodate Gulfstream's worldwide in-service fleet of approximately 2,800 aircraft.

"By growing the number of maintenance facilities and combining them with our fleet of rapid-response vehicles and Gulfstream Field and Airborne Support Teams technicians, we're offering our customers more service and support options, more accessibility, and more flexibility," said Gulfstream President Mark Burns.

Like the existing nearly 680,000ft² (63,174m²) Gulfstream Savannah Service Center, the Gulfstream East Campus offers aircraft-on-ground business aviation-dedicated MRO facility resources, hourly and calendar-driven airframe inspections, avionics installations, and interior refurbishments.

Gulfstream's Savannah MRO operations are certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, European Aviation Safety Agency, Civil Aviation Administration of China, and more than 20 other civil aviation authorities worldwide. In 2018, Savannah had more than 1,500 aircraft visits.

The Gulfstream East Campus is expected to receive U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification due to its sustainable features, which include energy-efficient lighting, enhanced control systems for heating and cooling, optimized energy performance, recycling at least 75% of construction waste, low-emitting building materials, water-saving fixtures, and preferred parking for low-emission vehicles.