SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Springfield is officially set to become a factory town for the next era of flight, as Electra moves forward with its $850 million production campus at AirPark Ohio, an investment the company says will create 1,975 jobs building a nine-passenger hybrid-electric aircraft that can take off and land in as little as 150 feet.
Electra formalized its commitment to the site adjacent to Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport in Clark County, celebrating with Gov. Mike DeWine, JobsOhio, the Dayton Development Coalition and local partners in Springfield in late October, according to the company and state officials. The planned facility covers about 96 acres at AirPark Ohio, home to the National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence.
The aircraft Springfield will build is the EL9 Ultra Short, a fixed-wing plane using hybrid-electric propulsion and blown-lift aerodynamics to operate from extremely short landing areas — a design Electra says opens the door to point-to-point regional air travel from places that cannot support conventional runways…