Cirrus plans Duluth expansion, with an eye to triple production

DULUTH - With Cirrus Aircraft expecting to triple production in the next decade, a $25 million expansion at its Duluth headquarters is both necessary and a sign of its confidence in the city it's called home for nearly three decades.

With an assist from St. Louis County and the city of Duluth, Cirrus plans to lease a vacant maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) building last occupied by AAR Corp., an airline maintenance company that closed its Duluth facility in 2020 as the effects of the pandemic set in.

The widening of the Cirrus footprint at Duluth International Airport will allow the private aircraft manufacturer to increase production and create at least 80 new jobs, said Bill King, a government relations executive with Cirrus.

"We are now the largest single-engine aircraft manufacturer in our class," King said, and the company is growing short on space to both innovate and produce.

The maintenance building, constructed to hold three wide-bodied airliners, needs significant investment to mold it to Cirrus' needs, he said.

Cirrus has asked both the city of Duluth and the county for combined tax abatement of $1.2 million over 10 years. The county board has approved the request and the City Council will vote in March. Cirrus is also seeking money from the Minnesota Jobs Creation Fund and a forgivable loan from the Minnesota Investment Fund.

Since 1993, Cirrus has received more than $25 million in city, state and federal financial support, a large portion in loans.

Without a tenant for the MRO building it owns, the city of Duluth has recently been on the hook for tax and maintenance payments of about $58,000 per month. Cirrus would pay taxes at a reduced amount, thanks to city and county credits, and will have the option to purchase the building.

Based in Duluth since 1994, Cirrus employs more than 1,200 in Duluth and also has facilities in Grand Forks, N.D., Knoxville, Tenn., and McKinney, Texas. It expects to invest $25 million to $30 million throughout its Duluth campus, including $2.3 million initially to remodel the maintenance building. The company, which makes the top-selling SR Series piston airplanes and Vision personal jets, wants more space for design work, testing and manufacturing.

"We are known for bringing new product to market on a regular basis," King said, and the pandemic spurred new customers to buy personal aircraft.

In 2021, the company surpassed 2019 billings with $632.9 million, moving 528 planes. The company reported $491.7 million in billings in 2020, after taking a pandemic hit early in the year. Sales of the $2 million Vision jet helped drive record billings of $547.3 million in 2019.

A Duluth Cirrus expansion is "exciting," said Chris Fleege, director of planning and economic development for the city, because it has a positive effect on the area's entire aviation cluster.

"It really has a multiplier effect for the whole economy," he said.

Cirrus stays in Duluth because of the quality of its workforce, King said. Although childcare and housing availability are a constant challenge, he expects the company will be able to fill the newly created positions.

A Cirrus expansion is welcome news on several fronts, said Matt Baumgartner, president of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce.

It aids job and tax-base growth and could attract new businesses to Duluth, he said, with the local aviation industry one of several growing sectors in the region that could help boost Duluth's population.

Adequate housing and childcare and equity issues all play a part in population growth and the industry's ability to increase its workforce, Baumgartner said, but Cirrus should struggle less than other industries in filling jobs. Especially with a pipeline of students from Lake Superior College's aviation programs, the industry is part of the city's "economy of the future," he said.