Annapolis Chamber Of Commerce

ARINC Opens a Second Hangar for Aircraft Modifications at Oklahoma City

(Media-Newswire.com) - Annapolis—ARINC Engineering Services, LLC today formally opened a new 60,000 square foot commercial aircraft hangar at its Aircraft Modification and Operations Center in Oklahoma City, OK.

A midday opening ceremony at Will Rogers World Airport was attended by Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce Dave Lopez representing Governor Mary Fallin, and by representatives of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.

ARINC Chairman and CEO John M. Belcher said “We have chosen to expand our facility now to keep pace with the increasing volume of military aircraft modification and integration work available today in OKC. The mission of our new hangar is to expand ARINC’s capacity to deliver outstanding modification, integration, and maintenance work for a greater variety of customers.”

The new hangar eclipses the original 50,000 sq. ft. hangar at ARINC’s facility which was previously the largest commercial aircraft hangar in the area. At 300 x 200 feet, the new hangar more than doubles available workspace and can accommodate three Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft under roof.


Mike Young, ARINC Engineering Services Vice President, said the company has already strengthened its workforce. “We began advertising for skilled aircraft workers in June, and we have had a good response,” he said. “We feel prepared to handle the amount of work we can now foresee at Hangar 2. The expansion not only doubles our capacity, but will make more efficient use of our existing 20,000 square feet of shops, engineering and administrative offices.”

ARINC has already started work inside the new hangar on the avionics systems of several military aircraft, under contracts recently received. Additional aircraft were parked on the tarmac outside the new hangar during the midday opening ceremony Thursday.

“We have a number of customer aircraft awaiting avionics upgrades,” Young added.

Chamber Notes: Business community too quiet in debt debate ...

The enormity of what occurred over the past month regarding the federal debt ceiling and resulting consequences is further magnified by the many excuses all the participants in this debacle are making to divert blame from their actions or lack of action.

Unfortunately, political ideology and brinkmanship smothered common-sense solutions to a decade-long series of financial problems that has plagued the public and private sectors. The consequences for such inertia are felt most by consumers, small businesses and local municipalities. Each depends on a predictable and stable economy for jobs, disposable income, sales and funding of core services.

Absent from the important national debate over the past month was the business community. The tepid response of cautioning against default on the national debt was at most a disappointment, and at worst a missed opportunity for providing leadership for building consensus among warring political factions.

Where were the voices of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business in this monumental national debate? Perhaps their past ideologically stringent and one-sided posturing in the partisan warfare that has brought our federal and state governments to standstills has restricted their desire and ability to become honest brokers and consensus-builders in an increasingly toxic political environment.

Over the past many years, this column has advocated that the business community and organizations representing businesses rise above the bitter partisanship suffocating the political process on the national and local levels. Neither political party, nor the increasingly extreme ideologies they advance, offers practical answers and a balanced approach toward building a sound and prosperous economic future for our country.

Taking one side or the other diminishes the sensible voice that the business community can exercise in efforts to bring reason and compromise into the consequential political debates and decisions of our time that impact consumer and business confidence, and the broader well-being of our economy.

We (@) have been nominated for a Sales/Marketing/Advertising Award by the Annapolis and Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce. :)

Congrats! RT @ We have been nominated for an Award by the Annapolis and Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce.

RT @: We have been nominated for a Sales/Marketing/Advertising Award by the Annapolis and Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce.

We have been nominated for a Sales/Marketing/Advertising Award by the Annapolis and Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce.

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