A site in Wheatland County, about 30 minutes east of Calgary, Alberta, was chosen to house extensive facilities for De Havilland Aircraft of Canada. In addition to housing a new plant, the facility will include parts manufacturing and distribution centres as well as a maintenance and overhaul facility, a training centre and general office facilities. De Havilland is also planning to construct a runway on site and build a de Havilland Aircraft Canada aircraft museum. The entire site will be called de Havilland Field.
Existing parts manufacturing facilities in Victoria, British Columbia and the engineer and customer support centre in Toronto will continue.
“De Havilland Field will be the home of assembly and production of reliable and rugged Canadian aircraft that serve missions around the world,” said De Havilland Aircraft of Canada’s CEO Brian Chafe. “This is the start of a new chapter for both De Havilland Canada and Canadian aerospace,” he added.
Aircraft to be manufactured and/or assembled at De Havilland Field include the DHC-515 Firefighter, the DHC-6 Twin Otter and the Dash 8-400 regional airliner. The company expects to employ up to 1,500 people at De Havilland Field when all construction is complete.