Pilatus has broken ground on its new production facility at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (KSRQ) in Florida.
The new facility, which will also handle sales and service, has been in the works since 2022, according to officials with the Switzerland-based company. Once complete, the Florida facility will “supplement capacity in Switzerland, which is now close to maximum,” company officials said.
The groundbreaking is the first phase of a long-term development at the airport, Pilatus officials added, saying they have plans to “build on this foundation and expand into aircraft assembly.”
The Sarasota facility will be the company’s fifth location in the United States, according to Markus Bucher, CEO of Pilatus.
“In America, we will build airplanes for Americans,” he said. “We are establishing Sarasota as a major production site, serving our customers right where they are.”
The company estimates the new facility will create 200 new jobs over the next five years.
Effective Jan. 1, 2026, Pilatus integrated all US subsidiaries into a single company, Pilatus Aircraft USA Ltd, creating a unified organization of around 400 employees. Other locations include the U.S. headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado (KBJC), plus additional locations in Westminster, Maryland (KDMW), Rock Hill, South Carolina (KUZA), and Atlanta, Georgia (KPDK). Pilatus already operates a PC-12 and PC-24 completion facility at its US headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado.
More than 2,300 Pilatus aircraft are in operation across North and South America, company officials added.
For more information: Pilatus-Aircraft.com
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