A high-tech, one-million-square-foot manufacturing facility for Bombardier Inc. is on schedule to be completed in 2023.
Located at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, the new Global Manufacturing Centre will house final assembly operations for all of Bombardier’s Global business jets. The work will create 3000 highly skilled jobs, according to The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which operates the airport. Some 100 aircraft will be manufactured each year at the plant.
Bombardier says the centre will feature the most advanced aircraft manufacturing processes anywhere in the world. This will include a state-of-the-art automated positioning system that uses laser-guided measuring to ensure major aircraft structures, such as the wing and fuselage, are joined consistently and accurately.
A report by the insauga digital magazine adds that the plant will help to revitalize the Airport Employment Zone, which boasted the second-largest concentration of jobs in Canada prior to the pandemic.
Final assembly for Bombardier’s Global series currently takes place a few miles away in Downsview. Bombardier says it will support the aerospace heritage of the Downsview site by helping to fund the Downsview Aerospace Innovation and Research Consortium (DAIR) to develop an aerospace hub for academic research and training. That funding includes $2.5 million to refurbish the historic Moth Building, where Mosquito fighter bombers and Tiger Moth trainers were built during WWII.
