With its current manufacturing facilities located in the Downsview area of Toronto, De Havilland Canada has announced its intention to create a brand-new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located approximately 30 minutes to the east of Calgary in Wheatland County.
The new facility will be named De Havilland Field and will comprise a new, state-of-the-art aircraft assembly facility, runway, parts manufacturing and distribution centres and maintenance repair and overhaul centre. Additionally, there is educational space planned for training the workforce of the future, as well as general office buildings and a De Havilland Canada aircraft museum. The new facility is intended to complement De Havilland’s current parts manufacturing facilities in Victoria, British Columbia as well as its new engineering and customer support centre of excellence in Toronto, Ontario.
The new facility will be used for final assembly of the DHC-515 Firefighter aircraft, which was launched earlier this year, the DHC-6 Twin Otter as well as the Dash 8-400 aircraft. The Canadian aircraft manufacturer is also currently working towards bringing the DHC-6 Twin Otter and Dash 8-400 aircraft back into production.
The location for De Havilland Field was chosen as it has access to a large, young and diverse labour pool in Alberta and a world-class international airport that can support efficient parts distribution to its global customer base. Once fully operational, it is anticipated the facility will provide up to 1500 jobs. However, at present the development of De Havilland Field is subject to an amendment to the Wheatland County Area Structure Plan as well as re-zoning by the County. De Havilland expects to submit these applications shortly. In addition, there are approval processes required by Transport Canada and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.
