U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $12.25 million grant to the city of Pensacola, Florida, to make critical infrastructure improvements needed to establish a maintenance training facility at Pensacola International Airport. The EDA grant, to be matched with more than $36 million in state and local investment, is expected to help create 400 jobs.
“The new maintenance training facility being built with the help of this grant will prepare students for careers in the commercial aviation industry while also making the region’s economy more resilient in the face of future natural disasters,” says Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
“I welcome the Department of Commerce’s investment to establish a maintenance training facility at Pensacola International Airport,” says Senator Marco Rubio. “This important investment in Pensacola’s infrastructure will help to create hundreds of new jobs and opportunities for dignified work, as well as uplift the local economy.”
This project will fund the construction of a 173,000 square-foot airport hangar, along with adjacent taxi ways and related infrastructure, at Pensacola International Airport. Designed to withstand 170 mph winds, the facility will support state-of-the-art maintenance, repair and overhaul operations, and provide a training center for commercial and technological aviation programs. This project was made possible by the regional planning efforts led by the West Florida Regional Planning Council.