Otto Aerospace to Begin Construction at Cecil Airport in 2028, Aircraft Manufacturing Targeted for 2030
Why It MattersThe project shows how new business-jet manufacturing capacity is increasingly built on layered public incentives and phased hangar conversions well before certification or a first flight is achieved.
What happened
Texas-based Otto Aerospace plans to begin construction of a manufacturing facility at Cecil Airport in Jacksonville, Florida in 2028 and start producing aircraft there around 2030, Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) Chief Operating Officer Tony Cugno told the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee.
The facility is intended to build the Phantom 3500, a carbon-fiber twin-engine business jet with a laminar flow design that Otto says cuts drag by 35% and fuel consumption by more than 60% compared with conventional business jets. The aircraft has a range of 3,500 nautical miles and a cruise altitude of 51,000 feet. A first test flight is targeted for 2027, with certification and customer deliveries planned for 2030. Otto, formerly Otto Aviation before a September 2025 name change, announced in June 2025 that it would establish operations at Cecil Airport and move its headquarters from Fort Worth to Jacksonville. The company plans over 600,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space by January 1, 2032, at least 400 jobs averaging $90,000 by the end of 2031, potential growth to 1,200 workers by 2040, and total planned capital investment of $430 million in Jacksonville.
A $12.1 million renovation of Hangar 825, a former U.S. Navy structure at 6105 Flightline Road most recently occupied by Boeing, is already underway. A conversion permit issued August 28 covers converting 59,130 square feet into an aircraft research and development facility, with Balfour Beatty Construction LLC as contractor; a March 23 permit had previously allowed $500,000 of interior demolition. The hangar will support research, development, manufacturing and production of a small experimental aircraft. In September 2025, Cleveland-based Flexjet ordered 300 Phantom 3500 jets. Incentives include a May 2025 JAA package of $22.5 million for taxiway extension and site preparation, $3.73 million in rent and maintenance fee abatements on Hangar 825, and $1.5 million in rent credits, plus a $20 million Jacksonville City Council incentive package approved 18-0 in June 2025, structured as a 20-year, 75% Recapture Enhanced Value Grant.
Industry impact & what to watch
New business-jet programs increasingly pair aircraft development with public-private industrial packages, where taxiway work, hangar conversion and workforce commitments proceed on parallel timelines well ahead of type certification. Cecil Airport's arrangement — JAA infrastructure spending, city tax incentives and a phased hangar buildout preceding a still-unflown design — reflects how municipalities compete for aerospace manufacturing jobs by underwriting early-stage capacity rather than waiting for a proven product.
For the business jet segment specifically, Flexjet's 300-unit order gives Otto a fractional-market anchor customer before first flight, a structure that ties fleet-planning decisions to a design that has not yet completed the 2027 test-flight milestone or 2030 certification target. The gap between manufacturing buildout (2028-2032) and aircraft certification (2030) means facility construction is running ahead of, not behind, the underlying product's regulatory validation.
The next markers worth tracking are the 2027 first test flight, progress on the Hangar 825 conversion toward its research-and-development use, and whether the 2028 construction start for the full manufacturing facility holds against the broader jobs and capital-investment targets tied to 2031, 2032 and 2040.
