Location |
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Coordinates | 30°38′40″N88°03′52″W / 30.64436°N 88.06452°W |
Parent organization | Mobile Airport Authority |
Website | brookleyaeroplex |
Formerly called | Bates Field, Brookley Army Air Field, Brookley Air Force Base, Brookley Complex |
The Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley is an industrial complex and airport in Mobile, Alabama, United States, which lies adjacent to the western shore of Mobile Bay. It is owned and operated by the Mobile Airport Authority. [1] It was known by a variety of names until being renamed in 2010 as the Brookley Aeroplex. [2] In the fall of 2013, the Brookley Aeroplex was rebranded as the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley. [3]
The aeroplex was first developed specifically for aviation with the establishment of Bates Field in 1929. The City of Mobile acquired the land from then Mayor of Mobile, Cecil F. Bates. Bates Field was Mobile's first municipal airport. The United States Army Air Corps purchased the airfield in 1938 and established the Brookley Army Air Field, later renamed Brookley Air Force Base in 1948. The name Bates Field was then reused for the new Mobile municipal airport located 10 miles (16 km) northwest of the Brookley site, known today as the Mobile Regional Airport. Brookley Army Air Field employed 17,000 civilians during World War II. After the end of the war, Brookley AFB was used by Air Materiel Command. The closure of the base was announced in 1964, with operations officially ceasing in June 1969. This left a civilian workforce of approximately 13,000 people, ten percent of the local workforce, without jobs. [4] It represented the largest base closure in United States history up to that time. [5]
The site was returned to the city after the base closure. The city established the Mobile Airport Authority in 1972 for advisement on how to manage Brookley. It was formally created as an independent authority by the Alabama Legislature in 1982, charged with the management of both Brookley and the Mobile Regional Airport. The site was renamed Brookley Complex at this time. A new terminal building was completed in 1986. Attempting to capitalize off the site's unique mix of road, rail, water, and air transportation, the authority began a campaign during the late 1980s to recruit the aviation and aerospace industries to Brookley. This mission has continued to the present. [4]
On January 22, 2019, Mobile Downtown Airport announced the beginning of Frontier Airlines nonstop flights to Denver (DEN) and Chicago O’Hare (ORD) starting on May 1, 2019. There are 3 flights per week to Denver (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday) and 2 flights per week to Chicago (Wednesday, Saturday). Both destinations are operated with Airbus A320 aircraft, which are assembled on-site.
On Monday, January 6, 2020, Frontier Airlines announced a suspension of all scheduled flights to and from the Mobile Downtown Airport citing insufficient demand. This decision would leave the Mobile Downtown Airport without any commercial airline services for the foreseeable future.
According to an announcement released Monday, April 6, 2020, by the Mobile Airport Authority, Frontier will begin to offer direct flights to Orlando International Airport starting Saturday, April 18. This reverses a January 2020 decision by Frontier to end service to Mobile on April 22 with a return unlikely before 2021. And it means that the new mini-terminal that the Airport Authority opened at the Downtown Mobile Airport in the Brookley Aeroplex in 2019, at a cost of about $8 million, will continue to serve at least one client airline.
A major component of the aeroplex is the Mobile Downtown Airport, a general aviation facility. The airport elevation is 26 feet (7.9 m), and it has a control tower and two asphalt/concrete runways:
The Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley is the largest industrial and transportation complex in the region, with approximately 70 companies employing about 3600. Notable tenants at Brookley include Airbus North America Engineering (Airbus Military North America's facilities are at the Mobile Regional Airport), Continental Motors, and ST Aerospace Mobile. [7] ST Aerospace Mobile serves as a maintenance provider for Delta Air Lines (Airbus A319/320), FedEx Express, American Airlines, and United Airlines. FedEx Express also uses the complex for three daily cargo flights from Memphis, Tennessee. [8]
The site is spread over 1,650 acres (668 ha). [9] The complex is home to many aerospace industries and features direct connections with Mobile Bay via its own docks, CSX railway, and with Interstate 10. [10] It is included in Mobile's Foreign Trade Zone 82, a zone that provides special customs procedures to U.S. plants engaged in international trade-related activities. [11] [12]
On February 29, 2008, the United States Air Force announced that a partnership between Northrop Grumman and EADS North America had won first round of a contract to produce the new KC-45 aerial refueling tanker to replace the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. The contract would have been worth up to $40 billion with 179 planes to be delivered over the succeeding ten to fifteen years, with production of these aircraft at Brookley. [13]
Following a formal protest from Boeing, the competition was reopened. Although Northrop Grumman declined to bid (stating that it considered the RFP to be too heavily weighted in favor of Boeing and its planned Boeing 767 entry), on April 20, 2010, EADS announced it was re-entering the competition on a stand-alone basis, and intended to enter a bid with the KC-45 with final assembly at Brookley. [14] EADS also announced plans to move its Airbus A330-200F freighter assembly line from France to Mobile as well if it got the contract. This time, however, Boeing won the contract in February 2011 and EADS did not contest the result. [15] [16]
Beginning on June 27, 2012, The New York Times and other news outlets reported that Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS, had decided to locate a new factory in Mobile for the manufacture of the Airbus A320. [16] [17] The initial reports were confirmed by the Press-Register , which reported on June 30, 2012 that the deal had been approved by Airbus. [15] The plans include a $600 million factory at the Brookley Aeroplex for the assembly of the A319, A320 and A321 aircraft, all part of the Airbus A320 family. It could employ up to 1,000 full-time workers when at full capacity. Construction began in the spring of 2013, with it becoming operable by 2015 and producing 40 to 50 aircraft per year by 2017. [15] The plan was formally announced by Airbus CEO Fabrice Brégier from the Mobile Convention Center on July 2, 2012. [18] [19] A ground breaking ceremony for the factory was held on April 8, 2013. [20]
Airbus Mobile officially opened on September 14, 2015, covering one million square feet on 53 acres of flat grassland. [21]
On October 16, 2017, Airbus announced a partnership with Bombardier Aerospace, taking over a majority share of the Bombardier CSeries airliner program. As a result of this partnership, Airbus plans to open an assembly line for CSeries aircraft in Mobile, particularly to serve the US market. This effort may allow the companies to circumvent high countervailing duties on the CSeries family. [22] The CSeries was renamed the Airbus A220 on 10 July 2018; [23] deliveries from Mobile are expected to start in 2020, at an initial rate of four aircraft per month. [24]
Bombardier Aviation is a division of Bombardier Inc. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. Its most popular aircraft included the Dash 8 Series 400, CRJ100/200/440, and CRJ700/900/1000 lines of regional airliners, and the newer CSeries. It also manufactured the Bombardier 415 amphibious water-bomber, and currently makes the Global Express and the Challenger lines of business jets.
Swiss International Air Lines AG, stylized as SWISS, is the flag carrier of Switzerland and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, as well as a Star Alliance member. It operates scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Zurich Airport serves as its main hub and Geneva Airport as its secondary hub.
Air Baltic, legally incorporated as AS Air Baltic Corporation, is the flag carrier of Latvia, with its head office on the grounds of Riga International Airport in Mārupe municipality near Riga. Its main hub is Riga, and it operates bases in Tallinn, Vilnius, Tampere and a seasonal base in Las Palmas launched in 2023. It is 80% owned by the government of Latvia. It operates flights only on Airbus Models. It operates a frequent-flyer program and a free meal menu offering food and drinks for purchase.
The Airbus A318 is the smallest and least numerous variant airliner of the Airbus A320 family. The A318 carries 107 to 132 passengers and has a maximum range of 5,750 kilometres. Final assembly of the aircraft took place in Hamburg, Germany. It is intended primarily for short-range service.
The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership (ACLP). It was originally developed by Bombardier Aviation and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launched on 13 July 2008. The smaller A220-100 first flew on 16 September 2013, received an initial type certificate from Transport Canada on 18 December 2015, and entered service on 15 July 2016 with launch operator Swiss Global Air Lines. The longer A220-300 first flew on 27 February 2015, received an initial type certificate on 11 July 2016, and entered service with airBaltic on 14 December 2016. Both launch operators recorded better-than-expected fuel burn and dispatch reliability, as well as positive feedback from passengers and crew.
Mobile International Airport is a public use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) south of the central business district of Mobile, a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The airport is a principal component of the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, a 1,650-acre (668 ha) industrial complex. Presently the facility covers 1,616 acres of land. It is owned and operated by the Mobile Airport Authority. Prior to 1969, the airport was part of an active military installation known as Brookley Air Force Base.
Brookley Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in Mobile, Alabama. After it closed in 1969, it became what is now known as the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley.
The competition between Airbus and Boeing has been characterized as a duopoly in the large jet airliner market since the 1990s.
VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering provides commercial aircraft maintenance to passenger and cargo aircraft to many of the world's leading airlines. It is located within the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Alabama and is one of the largest employers in Mobile County, Alabama. The work force includes technical, engineering, and administrative personnel, consisting largely of FAA licensed aircraft mechanics. The company was established in September 1990 by ST Engineering.
The EADS/Northrop Grumman KC-45 was a proposed aerial refueling tanker aircraft based on the Airbus A330 MRTT. The United States Air Force (USAF) had ordered 179 KC-45As in the first stage of replacing the aging Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker tankers currently in service. However, the contest was reopened in July 2008, after Boeing's protest of the award was upheld. In response to the new contest, on 8 March 2010, Northrop Grumman announced it was abandoning its bid for the new contract, with its CEO stating that the revised bid requirement favoured Boeing. On 20 April 2010, EADS announced it was re-entering the competition and entered a bid with the KC-45. Eventually, the USAF selected the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus.
As of December 2024, the Delta Air Lines fleet consists of 986 mainline aircraft, making it one of the two largest commercial airline fleets in the world, along with United Airlines. Delta Air Lines operates a fleet manufactured by Airbus and Boeing.
Airbus SE is a European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been the world's leading helicopter manufacturer and, in 2019, also emerged as the world's biggest manufacturer of airliners.
Airbus Group, Inc. represents the North American activities of European multinational aerospace company Airbus. Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, this American arm of the company participates in U.S. Department of Defense programs, in some cases as a prime contractor. The American unit operates under a Special Security Arrangement which allows it to work independently on some of the most sensitive United States defense programs despite its foreign ownership. It employs approximately 3,200 people and had 2011 revenues of $1.3 billion.
Alabama's first aeronautical event was on 10 March 1910 with the flight of a Wright biplane flown by Orville Wright in Montgomery, Alabama.
The Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility is an assembly site for Airbus's Commercial Airplanes division, located at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley in Mobile, Alabama, United States. The plant is an assembly and delivery site for Airbus commercial aircraft in the United States and one of the largest employment centers in the state. The site is one of four final assembly and delivery points for the Airbus A320neo family and one of two final assembly and delivery points for the Airbus A220.
On 28 April 2016, Bombardier Aerospace, a division of Bombardier Inc., recorded a firm order from Delta Air Lines for 75 CSeries CS100s plus 50 options. On 27 April 2017, The Boeing Company filed a petition for dumping them at $19.6m each, below their $33.2m production cost. On the same day, both Bombardier and the government of Canada rejected Boeing's claim, vowing to mount a "vigorous defence".
This is a list of aviation-related events in 2018.
This is a list of aviation-related events in 2019.