Flight school wants city help | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY
TITUSVILLE — A Titusville helicopter pilot training school will ask the city council for discounts on its building permit fees, as it seeks to expand its local operations and add nearly 100 employees.
Bristow Academy previously announced plans to build a 40,000-square-foot maintenance facility, a 13,500-square-foot flight operations center and a concrete aircraft ramp at its complex at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville.
The total proposed capital improvements exceed $10 million.
The new facilities would allow Bristol to add 97 full-time employees to its Titusville staff of 160. Most of the employees would be flight instructors, generally earning between $35,000 and $45,000 a year, depending on their experience, according to Nick Mayhew, Bristol Academy's Titusville general manager.
Bristow and the airport are seeking council approval for waiving about $33,085, which represents half of the costs of three fees: building permits, utility construction and site.
Mayhew said the incentives "will help us maintain flexibility and allow us to grow."
With its current staff levels and its current 250 students taking classes at any one time, Mayhew estimates that the company brings about $100 million a year into the local economy. That figure takes into account spending by students and their families while they live in Brevard County, tuition payments and spending by Bristow employees, as well as various spinoff economic impacts.
Many of Bristow's students are from other parts of the country or from other countries.
The planned expansion could increase local student enrollment by up to 125 at any one time, Mayhew said.
Titusville-based Bristow Academy is the world's largest civilian helicopter school.
Mayhew said the expansion also could result in Bristow adding as many as 20 helicopters to its 55-helicopter fleet in Titusville.