ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida's Governor, Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer were in Orlando Tuesday morning when the CEO of AirTran Airways opened the company's new operations center on AirTran Boulevard.
In the shadow of the old building, there is a 16,000 square-foot facility that is the new nerve center of AirTran Airways. The old one was heavily-damaged during Hurricane Charlie.
More than 700 flights a day will be monitored and dispatched from the $6.9 million control center. The city of Orlando gave up $170,000 worth of incentives to keep the operation there.
"The financial incentives were important. It was different. We did not threaten to leave. We asked the state, city, county, ‘Can you help us?' If you can, we're staying in Orlando," said Bob Fornaro, AirTran Airways.
AirTran calls it the nerve center, because everything will be controlled from the building. Employees there will troubleshoot all problems.
"Having 120 new jobs coming to the Sunshine State as a result of this expansion is everything we're about right now," Governor Crist said.
More than 100 pilots will be hired or transferred from other AirTran bases in Atlanta and Milwaukee, with an average salary of $100,000 a year. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer says that translates to new home sales, money spent in restaurants and other businesses.
"If you're going to attract those types of jobs, then you have to incentivize, but the return on investment is substantial," Dyer said.
The new facility is also hurricane-hardened, which means it will make it through the next storm, as long as winds don't exceed 150 miles per hour.
AirTran already employs more than 1,000 people in Central Florida.
WFTV
