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The approval for Daher’s long-term lease of its U.S. aerostructures facility at Witham Field in Stuart, Florida is a new milestone for the company’s presence in the strategic North American marketplace.
With this extended-duration lease at Stuart, Daher is able to continue the current production of large airframe components – called aerostructures – as a Tier 1 supplier to major aircraft manufacturers, and it is positioned to pursue future development in evolving the facility as an aviation industrial center of excellence.
The Witham Field factory is on land owned by Martin County, and the lease was approved this week by Martin County’s Board of County Commissioners.
Daher took over the Stuart plant in July 2022 and currently employs 700 persons at the facility, which covers approximately 440,000 square feet of production and support activities across a 44-acre site. Since the acquisition, Daher has committed millions of dollars in teams training and upskilling – as well as for equipment and inventory improvements – to further enhance the quality and output of its locally-produced aerostructures and position the Stuart plant as a high-performing partner to support the American aerospace activity.
The newly approved lease at Witham Field provides the potential for additional enhancements at the Daher site, as well as opportunities for business growth. This includes Daher’s intention to create a final assembly line at the location to build the company’s own TBM/Kodiak turboprop-powered aircraft families, introducing the first production of state-of-the-art airplanes in Martin County.
“As a family-owned company, Daher places a very high value on business development and employment stability in the regions where we’re present, and we look forward to a beneficial partnership with Martin County, the city of Stuart and the state of Florida for many years to come,” said Didier Kayat, the Daher Group’s Chairman & CEO.
Kayat added that Stuart is strategically located in the southeast United States, where the Daher Group is expanding the North American business volume for its four divisions: Aircraft, Industry, Industrial Services and Logistics. In addition to the Stuart facility, Daher is present at five other locations in North America: Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale in Florida; Mobile, Alabama; Sandpoint, Idaho; and Nogales, Mexico.
Daher currently employs more than 1,200 people in North America out of the French-based company’s overall international headcount of 13,000. The total revenue reported by Daher in 2023 was 1.65 billion euros (approximately $1.7 billion), of which 35% was generated by its North American operations.
Stephen J. Stasiak, Daher’s General Manager at the Stuart facility, added: “As we look to the future, the Witham Field location will offer a full scope of employment opportunities, ranging from aerostructures and aircraft assemblers to positions in quality and management. The excellent support that Daher receives at the local and regional levels is a true motivator for us as we look to the future.”
An example of the local-level support is Martin County’s REACH vocational center that is taking shape next door to the Stuart factory, which can provide entry-level training in the aviation industry’s production framework for new employee candidates at the Daher operation.
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