Covington County: May 4, 2013

Gov. Robert Bentley capped off what he said has been a great week for Alabama by celebrating with Vector Aerospace the grand opening of its expanded Andalusia facility.

ANDALUSIA, Alabama – About 125 miles from Mobile, where Airbus will build its first U.S. final assembly line, is a small Covington County city of 9,000 people that plans to transform its textile-based economy into an aviation hub.

By Michele Gerlach, The Andalusia Star-News - More than 200 people were on hand Tuesday morning for an announcement and celebration of DRS Technologies’ new operation at South Alabama Regional Airport.

By Nicola Clark, The New York Times — Airbus, the European airplane maker, announced Monday that it would invest $600 million over the next five years to build an assembly line here for its popular A320 single-aisle jet — its first factory in the United States.

Economic development in Alabama is flying high...

By Greg Canfield, al.com - Alabama is celebrating a series of great announcements this year that continue to prove the state is on the right path to economic prosperity. From the news that Airbus will assemble its A320 family of aircraft in Mobile and employ 1,000 people, invest $600 million and pay its workers an average annual salary of $41,295 to the opening of Phase II of the Alabama Robotics Technology Park, the Alabama Department of Commerce and our economic development partners are determined to continue a focus of building jobs that require technical skills and provide higher base wages to Alabamians.