Winner Applauds Schweizer Expansion, Secures Additional Aid

Big Flats, New York-- State Senator George H. Winner, Jr. (R-C, Elmira) called this week’s news that Schweizer Aircraft Corporation will be expanding and creating new jobs in the Southern Tier "a genuine victory for the future of many area workers and their families."

New York Governor George Pataki visited the area yesterday to announce that $1 million in new state funding will be made available to assist a major expansion of Schweizer Aircraft Corporation at the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport. Winner and a host of local and state officials joined the governor and Sikorsky Aircraft representatives to announce that Schweizer Aircraft, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sikorsky and a premier manufacturer of helicopters, reconnaissance aircraft and unmanned vehicles, will invest nearly $5 million in a new facility and equipment for customization and completion work of Black Hawk military helicopters. The project is expected to create 100 new jobs over three years. It will also help secure 475 existing jobs at Schweizer.

[See today's story in the Elmira Star-Gazette]

In addition to the funding announcedby the governor, Winnersaid that he has secured:

> an additional $500,000 state economic development grant to assist the construction of Schweizer’s new Black Hawk facility; and

> an additional $200,000 in state multi-modal transportation funding for runway improvements at the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport that will continue to help establish the airport as a center of regional economic activity.

"These runway improvements are part of an overall, ongoing strategy to establish the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport as a hub of economic and manufacturing activity in the Southern Tier," said Winner. "This commitment is crucial to our future economic competitiveness, and it’s already paying off with victories like the Schweizer Aircraft expansion."

Winner applauded the news of the Schweizer expansion.

"The arrival of these new Schweizer Aircraft jobs will be exciting and energizing for the future of Chemung County and the Southern Tier at a time when new manufacturing jobs in upstate New York have been little more than a fading memory. I’m grateful for Governor Pataki’s ongoing commitment to investments that are vital to strengthening our long-term economic foundation," said Winner. "This expansion of Schweizer Aircraft maintains our region as a leader in the aviation manufacturing industry, and that bodes well for the future of many area workers and their families."