Honda Aircraft Company marked the opening of its new customer service facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony today at its world headquarters in Greensboro, N.C. The facility is an expansion of the company's corporate operations at the Piedmont Triad International Airport. With the facility's addition, the Honda Aircraft campus totals more than 130 acres and more than 600,000 square feet.
"Our goal is to create a new level of the private jet ownership experience. This means not only creating an advanced, high-performance light jet, but also building the best aircraft company to support the customer after the HondaJet enters service," said Michimasa Fujino, president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Company. "With the opening of the customer service facility, together with our dealer network and the talented team here at Honda Aircraft, we are closer to making that objective a reality."
The facility will provide a corporate base for Honda Aircraft Company's customer service organization, which will manage warranty administration; service programs sales and administration; 24/7 technical support center; technical publications; training; and will complement the HondaJet dealer network by providing heavy maintenance and major repair and overhaul work.
The customer service facility is an expansion of the Honda Aircraft campus that includes R&D, headquarters and production facilities to market, sell and manufacture the HondaJet, the world's most advanced light jet.
"Since establishing Honda Aircraft Company in 2006, our step-by-step growth has boosted Honda's capital investment in Greensboro to more than $140 million," said Anthony Piazza, vice president of administration for American Honda Motor Company. "The opening of this new facility is further evidence of Honda's commitment to support the continued growth of aviation in North Carolina and to the Piedmont Triad area."
The approximately 90,000-square-foot facility includes dedicated office and work space for Honda Aircraft Company's customer service organization, a service parts warehouse for parts distribution, and a hangar to provide aircraft maintenance.
"The facility's heavy maintenance and major repair and overhaul capabilities will augment the aircraft maintenance services HondaJet customers will receive at dealers located in North America and Europe," said Fujino. "Our dealer network is diligently preparing for HondaJet entry into service and will provide our customers with the quality of service they expect from Honda."
Honda Aircraft Company broke ground for the facility's construction in late September 2012. KBR Building Group, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., and The Daniele Company, a minority-owned general contracting firm, based in Durham, N.C., were selected for the project.
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About HondaJet
HondaJet is the world's most advanced light business jet aircraft, with best-in-class advantages in performance, comfort, quality and efficiency. The HondaJet is the fastest, highest-flying, quietest, and most fuel-efficient jet in its class. The HondaJet incorporates many technological innovations in aviation design, including the unique Over-The-Wing Engine Mount (OTWEM) configuration that dramatically improves performance and fuel efficiency by reducing aerodynamic drag. The OTWEM design also reduces cabin sound, minimizes ground-detected noise, and allows for the roomiest cabin in its class, the largest baggage capacity, and a fully serviceable private aft lavatory. The HondaJet is powered by two highly fuel-efficient GE Honda HF120 turbofan jet engines, and is equipped with the most sophisticated glass flight deck available in any light business jet, a Honda-customized Garmin® G3000 next-generation, all-glass avionics system composed of three 14-inch landscape-format displays and dual touch-screen controllers. The HondaJet is Honda's first commercial aircraft and lives up to the company's reputation for superior performance, efficiency, quality and value.
Honda Aircraft Company
Honda Aircraft Company, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., was founded in 2006, though has its heritage in more than 20 years of groundbreaking aeronautical research and development. At Honda Aircraft's world headquarters in North Carolina, the birthplace of aviation, the company's associates work in more than 600,000 square feet of state-of-the-art R&D, production, administration and customer service facilities to develop, produce, market and support the HondaJet with HondaJet dealers. The challenging spirit upon which Mr. Soichiro Honda founded Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is alive today as Honda Aircraft fulfills one of Honda's longstanding dreams to advance human mobility skyward.
