Springfield is about to trade in some cornfields for cutting-edge aircraft. Electra, a Virginia-based maker of hybrid-electric airplanes, is planning a 96-acre production campus at AirPark Ohio next to Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport, a project the company pegs at about $850 million that is expected to bring 1,975 jobs to Clark County. The plant will build Electra’s nine-passenger EL9 Ultra Short, a hybrid-electric aircraft designed for ultra-short takeoff and landing, and local officials are already calling it one of the biggest economic development wins Springfield has seen in years.
In a press release via Electra, the company said the new campus will launch with enough capacity to turn out roughly 400 EL9s a year, with plans to ramp up to as many as 800 annually over time. Design work is slated to start right away, construction could begin as soon as next year, and Electra is targeting 2028 to move into the site. CEO Marc Allen cast the project as a turning point, calling it the moment Electra’s vision moves from demonstration into reality.
The timing of the news lined up with Electra’s appearance at the Farnborough International Airshow, which helped push the story onto the national radar. As reported by StreetInsider, which carried a Reuters dispatch, the EL9 is designed to operate from strips as short as 150 feet, and Electra says it already has orders and letters of intent from dozens of customers.
What It Means For Jobs And The Region
State officials say the incoming jobs will range from engineers to mechanics to technicians, with average pay estimated at about $92,000 a year. JobsOhio’s chief framed the deal as a big step toward turning Springfield-Beckley into a national hub for advanced air mobility and manufacturing, signaling that this is not just another industrial park but a bid for long-term aerospace clout. The breakdown of wages and job types was reported by Springfield News-Sun.
Timeline, Certification And The EL9
On the technical side, Electra said it has submitted the EL9 for FAA Part 23 type certification, the agency has recently wrapped up a key G-1 issue paper, and the company is targeting a first flight in late 2027 or early 2028. The EL9 is a nine-passenger hybrid-electric airplane meant for trips of roughly 50 to 250 miles, a slot the company sees as sitting between car travel and traditional airline service. Electra stresses that its blown-lift wing and distributed propulsion system are what let the aircraft handle those short-field operations while aiming for lower operating costs than helicopters or eVTOL designs, according to the company press release via Electra.
The project is expected to seek a job creation tax credit from the Ohio Department of Development, and JobsOhio has committed to help with site preparation and workforce planning. Local and state leaders are assembling an incentive package that would be tied to job creation and training commitments, according to Springfield News-Sun.
If Electra follows through with its full build-out, the Springfield plant would become the production anchor for the EL9 in the Dayton-Springfield corridor and could pull in a broader web of suppliers for parts and services. The company is backed by strategic investors including Honeywell, Safran and Lockheed Martin Ventures, and says it has more than 2,200 aircraft on pre-order or letters of intent from over 60 operators, a level of interest company leaders argue is big enough to support betting heavily on Ohio, according to national coverage at StreetInsider.
