Pritchard’s former chief of staff gets year in prison
He was also ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution to the City of Pritchard.
Port of Mobile adding automotive terminal
The terminal will cost $60 million.
Mobile dims chances for Amtrak renewal on Gulf Coast
The project faces a deadline of Feb. 5 for getting local funding to match federal funding.
Mobile to decide key issue on Amtrak future on gulf coast
City leaders are preparing to decide a key issue in restoring passenger train service along the northern Gulf Coast, where Amtrak hasn’t operated regularly since Hurricane Katrina. Council members are scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to commit as much as $3 million over three years to operate Amtrak trains through the city, al.com reported. Katrina badly damaged rail lines in 2005, and Amtrak hasn’t resumed regular east-west service since then. Although Mississippi and Louisiana already have dedicated money toward the project to restart trains, Alabama has been a holdup, partly because officials at Alabama’s main seaport in Mobile worry passenger trains could interfere with freight traffic. Mobile’s commitment of money to match federal funding wouldn’t be needed until 2023, the year service connecting New Orleans to Mobile could restart. The city faces a deadline of Jan. 6 for a decision, with the vote set on New Year’s Eve. “This investment is totally an offset for operational costs,” said Wiley Blankenship, chief executive of the Coastal Alabama Partnership and chairman of the 21-member Southern Rail Commission. “It’s Mobile’s decision to make.” City Council President Levon Manzie said the financial responsibility for the project remains a concern for city officials. But, he said, the “concept of a train service” connecting Mobile to New Orleans remains appealing. He also said the commitments toward operations and capital improvements made in Mississippi and Louisiana are a factor. The New Orleans-to-Mobile route would include four stops in Mississippi: Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi and Pascagoula. “The notion that there would be coastal train service from New Orleans to coastal Mississippi and not include Mobile, I just think that it’s untenable,” Manzie said. “We need to be a part of this service.” Even with a commitment by the city, an additional $2.2 million will be needed from an Alabama-based source to finance capital improvements between the Mississippi line and Mobile. That money would be matched with Alabama’s portion of a $33 million federal grant awarded in June. Also, another $2.5 million could be required to finance the construction of a side track that would connect the main rail line to a future, $3 million train station at the city’s new downtown airport, Brookley Aeroplex. It’s unclear how those investments would be funded. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey hasn’t expressed much interest in backing the project, which Alabama State Docks officials fear could hamper freight service to the port. Alabama remains the lone holdout on dedicating funding for the project. Mississippi has already committed $15 million, and Louisiana has promised $10 million to match federal funding. Both states are also required finance $3 million each on operations. Republished with the Permission of the Associated Press.
Kay Ivey asks mayors to keep ‘critical’ bridge project alive
Alabama Govenor Kay Ivey is asking coastal officials to keep a “critical” Mobile Bay bridge project alive as they try to work out concerns about tolls. Ivey sent a letter Wednesday to the Mobile and Daphne mayors urging them to keep the proposed toll bridge project in the region’s long-range transportation plans. The bridge must be included to qualify for any federal funding. Opponents say the proposed tolls of up to $6 would hurt working families. Ivey wrote they will continue to look for a path forward and ways to reduce or eliminate tolls. Ivey said the project is critical “not only to Mobile and Baldwin Counties, but the entire Gulf Coast Region.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Kay Ivey calls September meeting on Mobile area toll bridge
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has called a meeting of a state panel over a proposed toll bridge in coastal Alabama. Ivey asked the Alabama Toll Road, Bridge and Tunnel Authority to meet Sept. 17 in Montgomery. They will discuss a planned bridge crossing the Mobile River and Mobile Bay. State officials say tolls from $3 to $6 are needed to help finance construction.. Ivey said she is sensitive to the impact on working families and small businesses. But the governor said she is also concerned about the “cost of doing nothing.”Critics say the tolls could cost commuters more than $1,000 a year. Ivey said the panel will hear an update on the project and hear from people and groups who may want to propose viable options for financing. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
The fastest growing and shrinking cities in Alabama
Alabama’s list of largest cities is due for another shakeup. In 2016, Huntsville passed Mobile to become the state’s third-largest city. Next year the Rocket City will likely pass Montgomery to become the second-largest.If population trends hold true over the next few years, it won’t be long until Huntsville stands at the top of the list. The U.S. Census Bureau released new city population estimates Thursday. According to the estimates, Birmingham, the largest city in the state, is losing population. The Magic City’s population has been mostly stagnant – no growth or major loss – since 2010. But for the first time in nearly 100 years, its population is now below 210,000. And Montgomery continues to steadily lose people. The state’s capital started the decade with a healthy 15,000 population lead over Huntsville. Now that lead has dwindled to fewer than 1,000 people. Huntsville, meanwhile, has been adding population at a substantial rate since the start of the decade. In those eight years the city has added more than 17,000 people. If those trends continue at their current pace, Huntsville could pass Birmingham in population in just six years.Huntsville was one of only three Alabama cities to grow its population by 10,000 people or more since 2010. The other two are notably college towns. Auburn added around 12,300 people and Tuscaloosa added around 10,600 people since 2010. Auburn’s growth is impressive. The city is also in the top 10 in terms of percentage growth in the state. Among Alabama cities with at least 10,000 people, only five grew at a faster rate than Auburn. Three of those are in Baldwin County, which continues to grow like a weed. Tuscaloosa’s growth has been a bit slower than Auburn’s, but it remains a significantly larger city. According to the estimates, Tuscaloosa passed the 100,000 population mark in 2017, and had 101,113 people in 2018. Auburn sat at 65,738 people in 2018. Montgomery isn’t the only large city that’s shrinking. Mobile has lost more than 5,000 people since 2010. Birmingham, Anniston and Gadsden have all lost significant population, as have Decatur, Eufaula and Prichard. But perhaps the most alarming population loss has come from Selma, a historic civil rights town that AL.com reported last year was the fastest shrinking city in the state. That’s still true, according to the new estimates. Selma has lost nearly 14 percent of its population since 2010, the worst rate in the state over that span, according to the Census. It’s the only city in the state to lose more than 10 percent of its population over that time. By Ramsey Archibald, Al.com. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Kemira investing $71 million to expand Alabama operation, creating 20 jobs
Finland-based Kemira announced it is investing $70.8 million to expand production at its Mobile facility. The company is a polymer producer serving the pulp and paper, oil and gas, and water treatment industries. The project will create an additional 20 jobs, growing Kemira’s Mobile workforce by 32 percent, to handle new process operations, increased logistics and the support functions at the site. “For Kemira this investment is an important step toward the growth objectives outlined in our strategy. It also secures our position as a leading global polymer producer and demonstrates our continued commitment to the oil and gas industry,” said Pedro Materan, senior vice president, Oil & Gas, at Kemira. Richard Ryder, Kemira’s Mobile plant manager, said construction will begin this year and the expanded plant will be operational in 2021. “We are expanding on our current footprint and will significantly increase production to meet our customers’ demand in the oil and gas industry,” Ryder said. ‘Renewing a relationship’ The existing site first opened in 1938, initially focused on the area’s lumber and pulp and paper businesses. Over time, Kemira said, the site began serving the wider industrial water treatment industry and, more recently, the oil and gas industry. Kemira utilizes chemistry to add optimal quality, functionality and strength to paper and board products, ensure the safety and hygiene of water and food packaging, and maximize yield from energy resources. Mobile is one of three Kemira facilities in the U.S., with others in Columbus, Georgia, and Aberdeen, Mississippi. Kemira’s parent company, Kemira Oyj, is based in Helsinki, Finland, with its Americas headquarters in Atlanta. “There has been significant growth in the area’s manufacturing and chemical sectors, whose companies historically and continue to provide high-paying jobs for our community,” said Shelby Glover, the Mobile Area Chamber’s senior project manager of economic development. “I look forward to seeing what the future holds for Kemira as they continue to excel in Mobile,” Local officials welcomed Kemira’s decision to expand its Mobile operation. “This expansion by Kemira is about more than just jobs – it’s about a global company reinvesting in our city and renewing a relationship that dates back more than 80 years. When existing businesses are thriving in combination with new jobs and investment, that’s a winning formula,” Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said. “We are very excited about Kemira’s decision to expand operations in Mobile County to meet customer demand. Their additional $70 million capital investment and 20 jobs further demonstrates Mobile’s growing attraction for foreign direct investment,” said Mobile County Commission President Connie Hudson. Republished with permission from Alabama NewsCenter
Airbus defies naysayers with Alabama plant for new jet
Airbus SE has broken ground for a new factory in Mobile, Alabama, defying predictions by archrival Boeing Co. that the plant would never be built. By midyear, mechanics will begin assembling the first American-made A220, a single-aisle jetliner developed by Bombardier Inc. and taken over by Airbus last year. Delivery of the initial plane with made-in-the-USA label is slated for next year. The new factory caps a dizzying turnaround for the Canadian-designed aircraft formerly known as the C Series, which Airbus rescued in 2018 after working for years to stymie sales. Bombardier turned to the European planemaker after Boeing rejected overtures. The U.S. aerospace giant then waged a high-profile and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to slap duties on imports of the jets by Delta Air Lines Inc. “That plane with our Airbus brand, with our support, our procurement and our sales is a game-changer,” said Jeff Knittel, Airbus’s Americas chief. Boeing spat In November 2017, Boeing at the height of the trade spat argued in a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that Airbus and Bombardier were “extremely unlikely ever to actually establish a C Series assembly line in Alabama.” Building a new factory would “make no economic sense,” the Chicago-based company said, contending there were too few orders to support a second production facility beyond the existing one in Mirabel, Quebec. Airbus has been shoring up sales and production of the jetliner since taking control over the unprofitable C Series program on July 1. The economic case once questioned by Boeing has grown stronger after a flurry of recent deals expanded the backlog of unfilled A220 orders to 480 aircraft. The initial sales and a top-up order by Delta show that there is ample demand to support a second factory in Mobile, Knittel said. Airbus is in discussions with several U.S. customers, he said, declining to provide specifics. “The trendline is terrific,” he said. “I am not concerned about filling the backlog.” Final assembly of the A220 jets in the U.S. “is a vital selling point for most U.S.-based customers,” Airbus said. Even so, Airbus and Bombardier plan to build the first 40 A220s ordered by Delta in Mirabel. Airbus is looking to achieve a “significant double-digit’’ reduction in production costs of the A220, said Philippe Balducchi, who runs the partnership with Bombardier. “The targets we have in our plan are achievable,’’ while conceding, “they are not easy.” The desired savings likely represent about $3 million per plane, according to Benoit Poirier, an analyst at Desjardins Capital Markets. In a twist, the new Airbus factory will be modeled on the production system that Bombardier created in Mirabel rather than mimic a neighboring A320 plant in Mobile, said Florent Massou, head of the A220 program. That’s unexpected, given the mass-production techniques that Airbus and Boeing have forged as they push single-aisle jet output to record-high levels. When Boeing took control of McDonnell Douglas Corp.’s MD-95 program following the companies’ 1997 merger, for example, engineers created an elaborate cable system to move jets and copy the moving line created for the 737 program. Tripling output The jigs, tooling and robotics at Mirabel are all cutting-edge, part of a lean production system that will eventually make 10 of the aircraft a month. But the engineers’ desks scattered around the factory floor hint at the problem-solving needed to triple output by the mid-2020s. “Technically, the production processes haven’t changed,” Massou told reporters at Mirabel this week. Rather than changing out equipment, Toulouse, France-based Airbus has focused on how work is organized to make sure that unfinished tasks aren’t handed over to workers downstream, while training mechanics to be more efficient. The Alabama final assembly line will look “exactly like this,” Massou said Jan. 14, from a balcony overlooking the Mirabel factory floor, where two lines of A220s were slowly taking shape. That’s so workers at the two factories can share the tribal knowledge that comes with repeating tasks – the learnings that drive down cost and speed production times for aircraft, he said. Boeing-Embraer Including the new factory, Airbus’s total investment in Mobile will approach $1 billion, Knittel said. Bombardier has committed to providing as much as $700 million in funding to the A220 partnership through 2021, Chief Financial Officer John Di Bert said last month. The figure includes a commitment of $350 million for 2019. Airbus and its partners are investing $300 million in the Mobile facility against the uncertain economic fallout from Brexit, and the emerging competitive threat of a joint venture that will give Boeing control of rival aircraft made by Brazil’s Embraer SA. “It’s sometimes hard to predict the future, but it didn’t take a genius” to anticipate the Boeing-Embraer tie-up, Airbus Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders told reporters. “We’re helped by the fact that we have by far the best aircraft in the A220.” (Contact the reporters at jjohnsson@bloomberg.net and tomesco@bloomberg.net.) Reprinted with permission from The Alabama NewsCenter.
Frontier Airlines to begin operations from coastal Alabama
Frontier Airlines will offer direct flights from coastal Alabama to Chicago and Denver later this year. News outlets reported Frontier will offer the service from a new passenger terminal using the Downtown Mobile Airport. Service will begin May 1 with one-way fares as low as $39 for passengers heading to Chicago who reserve flights before midnight Wednesday. Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson says flights from the downtown airport have been a goal for years. Supporters of the idea say a study showed using the downtown airport has more advantages than using the West Mobile Regional airport. They say the downtown airport’s location will make it more competitive with airports in Pensacola, Florida, and Biloxi, Mississippi. Via Airlines is also expected to start using the Downtown Mobile Airport in late spring. Reprinted with permission from the Associated Press
Airbus to invest $300 million on new Mobile plant, will create over 400 new jobs
Governor Kay Ivey on Wednesday joined leaders of Airbus, top local officials and others at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley for a groundbreaking ceremony to launch construction of the company’s new A220 aircraft manufacturing facility. The plane-maker will invest $300 million and create 400 jobs in the new facility located in Mobile, Ala., which will sit beside an existing assembly line for its A320 passenger jet. The new assembly line will satisfy the strong and growing U.S. demand for the A220 aircraft, the newest offering in Airbus’ commercial aircraft product line, and create 432 full-time jobs in Mobile. “This is a great day for Mobile and for Alabama,” Ivey said. “Airbus’ growth plans will not only create new jobs for Alabamians but also strengthen the bonds that have developed between the global aerospace company and our state. Alabama has a long history in flight and, as this project shows, a bright future in the aviation industry.” Airbus CEO Tom Enders led the celebration and welcomed attendees including Airbus and other industry executives, Airbus manufacturing employees, state and national dignitaries, and local community leaders. Jeff Knittel, Chairman and CEO of Airbus Americas, said that Airbus’ expansion in the United States reflects the company’s growing partnerships with customers, as well as with American supplier-partners and the communities in which the company operates across the U.S. “Our partnerships are growing again with the addition of an A220 manufacturing facility that will employ some 400 more employees at full rate,” Knittel explained. “Together we’ve already put Mobile on the map in the world of global aviation, and together we are making a new mark for the future.” Production timeline Aircraft production is planned to begin in Q3 2019, with first delivery of a Mobile-assembled A220 aircraft scheduled for 2020. The new A220 production facilities will be complete by next year. Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce, said that the A220 assembly line project represents an important milestone for the state’s robust and expanding aerospace sector. “Airbus’ decision to launch production of A220 aircraft at a new assembly line in Mobile will act as a powerful catalyst for sustained growth in an industrial sector that is key to Alabama’s future,” Secretary Canfield said. “Airbus’ expanding presence in the Mobile aerospace cluster will spark significant job creation and spur additional aerospace investment in the region for many years.”
AIDT to assist Airbus in hiring 600 new workers for Alabama growth
Airbus said it is working with AIDT to seek candidates to fill the first manufacturing positions at a new assembly line for A220 aircraft at the company’s production facility in Mobile. In addition, Airbus said it is hiring for production positions at its existing A320 Family aircraft manufacturing line on its Alabama campus. Altogether, Airbus plans to add 600 new employees in Mobile over the next 18 months. Open positions on both lines include aircraft structure/installation mechanics, aircraft cabin furnishings installers and aircraft electricians. Successful candidates for all positions will participate in several weeks of preparation at AIDT, the state’s primary workforce development agency, in a combination of classroom instruction and on-the-job training. “Airbus’ growth plans in Alabama underscore the strengths of the talented workforce that has already assembled more than 100 A320 family aircraft at the Mobile manufacturing facility,” said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. “Alabamians take pride in their work, and building A220 aircraft in Mobile will be another major accomplishment for the state’s workforce.” For a full job description of all the positions and to apply, go to https://airbususmanufacturing.applicantpro.com/jobs/. AIDT’s contribution AIDT has already played a major role in helping Airbus assemble and train a workforce at the company’s only U.S. manufacturing facility. In 2014, AIDT, part of the Alabama Department of Commerce, opened a $7 million training facilit ynear the Airbus campus in Mobile. “The addition of the new Airbus A220 family of aircraft in Mobile is proof that Alabama is well positioned with its workforce training to meet the needs of manufacturers all over the world,” said Ed Castile, director of AIDT and deputy secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. “AIDT has worked with Airbus since the beginning, and we’re honored to continue our support,” he said. “Congratulations to Airbus and Bombardier. We’re proud that they chose to build this next-generation aircraft here.” Airbus and Canada’s Bombardier finalized plans last year to form a joint venture to produce Bombardier’s C Series passenger jet, now called the Airbus A220. The new A220 production facility will be at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley industrial complex, adjacent to Airbus’ A320 Family production line. It will build aircraft for U.S.-based customers. The assembly line, which will create more jobs and further strengthen the aerospace industry, is part of Airbus’ strategy to enhance its global competitiveness by meeting the growing needs of its customers in the United States and elsewhere. A220 aircraft assembly is planned to start in 2019, using a combination of the existing and expanded Airbus facilities at Brookley to enable the first A220 delivery from Mobile to take place in 2020. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility is planned for next week. A permanent production process will be established upon completion of an A220 final assembly line building in 2020. Birmingham’s HPM was selected as program manager for the construction project, according to a November announcement. HPM served as program manager for Airbus’ $600 million project to build its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Mobile, with work beginning in 2013. Airbus delivered its first Alabama-made A321 aircraft in 2016. Airbus said some candidates for the new Alabama jobs will have the opportunity for on-the-job training with the company’s manufacturing team in Mirabel, Canada, before returning to Mobile. Production on the first A220 aircraft begins in the third quarter. This story originally appeared on the Alabama Department of Commerce’s Made in Alabama website. Republished with permission from the Alabama NewsCenter.
