Ohio approves Flexjet Global HQ expansion in Richmond Heights, projecting 976 new jobs and $62.5M payroll by 2031

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved an expansion of the Flexjet Global Headquarters in Richmond Heights, Ohio, officials announced on August 24, 2026. The project is projected to create 976 new full-time positions and generate approximately $62.5 million in new annual payroll by December 31, 2031. The expansion will also retain 1,184 existing positions at the site, located at Cuyahoga County Airport.

The authority approved a 1.92 percent, 15-year Job Creation Tax Credit for the project, according to state Rep. Daniel Troy, D-Willowick. Flexjet, a global private aviation company offering private jet leasing and fractional ownership programs, first opened its global headquarters at the east end of Richmond Heights in 2023 at a cost of $50 million. Richmond Heights Mayor Kim Thomas said the expansion represents "another major step forward" for the city and that Flexjet "continues to call our city its home."

The Flexjet project was among five Ohio development projects recently approved by the state. Collectively, the five projects are expected to create 1,429 jobs statewide and result in more than $239 million in investments across Ohio. The Flexjet expansion is the largest of the five, accounting for more than two-thirds of the anticipated new jobs in the current approval cycle.

Large fractional-ownership operators increasingly anchor headquarters and back-office growth in specific states by trading job and payroll commitments for multi-year tax credits, a financing pattern more common in manufacturing than in flight operations. Richmond Heights and Cuyahoga County Airport gain a concentrated employer whose retained 1,184 positions and projected 976 new ones make the site a significant local economic anchor tied to a single company's growth plan.

This kind of credit ties benefit to a hiring and payroll schedule running through December 31, 2031, so the real test is whether Flexjet's headcount and payroll growth track that timeline rather than the announcement itself. Ohio's Tax Credit Authority will monitor compliance against the 976-job and $62.5 million payroll targets over the credit's 15-year term, and any shortfall against those figures would be the first visible signal of whether the expansion delivers as approved.