Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Sanford touts jobs boost in Myrtle Beach

AvCraft, an aviation company in Myrtle Beach, announced Tuesday during a visit from Gov. Mark Sanford that it would expand, creating about 50 jobs during the next few years.

The company gained approval from the Federal Aviation Authority and the European Aviation Safety Agency, allowing it to do heavy maintenance on ATR 42 and 72 aircrafts.

The expansion is in conjunction with Indaer Industrial Aeronautics, which earlier this year helped train AvCraft employees. Indaer will provide engineering and program management support.

"It certainly will expand our capabilities and certainly expand the business as a whole," said Mike Hill, the general manager of AvCraft.

He said the expansion into more types of aircraft - the companypreviously worked on Dornier 328 regional jets and helicopters - will mean a larger customer base.

"We could very well see the doubling of our size in the next two to three years," Hill said.

Sanford toured the facility and discussed potential benefits the Boeing Co. plant in North Charleston could have along the Grand Strand.

Boeing announced last week that it would build a $750 million 787 assembly plant in North Charleston that is expected to bring about 4,000 jobs to South Carolina.

"I think there's an inevitable synergy that we can't in this moment describe," Sanford said.

Myrtle Beach has an unusual amount of ramp space, which makes it a location suited for aviation businesses, he said. Sanford talked with AvCraft about what services the company could provide to Boeing, Hill said.

The company could potentially assemble some components of the airplanes for Boeing.

"The other thing I see is it's putting South Carolina in the forefront of being one of the largest aviation economies in the United States," he said.

AvCraft could begin servicing the ATR airplanes as early as January and is already marketing the service, Hill said.

He said the discussion with the governor was about what he and the Department of Commerce might do to help the business, such as changing taxes and developing employees with appropriate skill sets.

Later Tuesday, Sanford told the Murrells Inlet Rotary Club that the Boeing deal was the biggest announcement in the state's history.

He said that while it will likely create jobs statewide, most of the jobs in the state are created by small businesses.

Sanford started his talk by apologizing "for letting some of y'all down," referencing his revelation of an affair in June.

He said that while some people say he should stop apologizing, he feels the need to do so personally to people that he meets.

"I'm still here because I think in some ways we have some opportunities we haven't had in a long time," Sanford said.

He outlined three major priorities for the remainder of his time in office: restructuring state government, creating sustainable limits on spending and helping create jobs and develop the economy.

Sanford spent most of the short talk discussing his proposals to restructure the government, including creating a Department of Administration, which would assume many of the functions of the Budget and Control Board; having governors and lieutenant governors run on the same ticket and restructuring the state's constitutional officers.

He said that the first two proposals are possible and would just require a majority vote in the legislature, but acknowledged that any changes to constitutional officers would be a lengthy process.

Sanford advocated a public vote on how many constitutional officers should be elected.

Sanford urged those in the audience to pick an issue and talk about it with friends, family and their elected officials.

"It's not how hard I work. ... What will determine the change in politics is how hard you push," Sanford said.