JetZero plans to build $4.7B plant in North Carolina, aims to create
14,500 jobs
[June 13, 2025] GREENSBORO,
N.C. (AP) — JetZero Inc. announced plans Thursday to build its first
manufacturing plant for a next-generation passenger jet in central North
Carolina, a project that if successful would create more than 14,500
jobs there in a decade.
The California-based startup intends to build the factory at
Greensboro’s airport, investing $4.7 billion. The planned hirings from
2027 through 2036 would be the largest job commitment in North Carolina
history, according to Gov. Josh Stein.
The company previously identified Greensboro as one of three finalists
for the factory to build its fixed-wing — also known as all-wing or
blended-wing — Z4 aircraft, which JetZero says will be up to 50% more
fuel-efficient than traditional tube-and-wing airliners.
JetZero has said it's already raised about $300 million toward
investment in the Z4 project, including a U.S. Air Force grant to build
and fly a demonstrator model by 2027.
United Airlines and Alaska Airlines also are project investors and have
made conditional purchase agreements for their fleets, the company said.
JetZero aims for the planes to go into service in the early 2030s, with
a goal of completing 20 airplanes per month at full production.
Stein, on hand with JetZero executives and other officials for the
formal announcement at Piedmont Triad International Airport in
Greensboro, cited North Carolina's robust aerospace industry and the
first manned powered flights at Kitty Hawk by the Wright brothers in
1903.
“North Carolina is the perfect location,” Stein said. “North Carolina
was first in flight. We are also the future of flight.”
The jobs would pay minimum average salaries of more than $89,000,
according to the state Department of Commerce, which provided details of
the project discussed earlier Thursday by a state committee that awards
economic incentives.
State and local monetary and training incentives for JetZero and the
project described at the committee meeting could exceed $2.35 billion by
the 2060s if investment and job-creation thresholds and other
requirements are met.
A portion of state incentives awarded by the committee — more than $1
billion over 37 years — is based on a percentage of income taxes
withheld from plant workers’ paychecks. The incentives also include up
to $785 million from Guilford County and Greensboro and up to $450
million from the General Assembly in part to help with infrastructure,
officials said. The project includes a research facility for composite
structures.
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JetZero CEO and co-founder Tom O'Leary speaks during a ceremony on
Thursday, June 12, 2025, announcing that the company will build its
manufacturing facility for its future Z4 passenger jet at Piedmont
Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C. (Walt Unks/The
Winston-Salem Journal via AP)
 A commerce department official said
that JetZero, headquartered in Long Beach, California, looked for
over a year for a plant location, examining 25 sites in 17 states.
JetZero, currently with just 225 workers, enters a jet purchasing
market dominated by industry behemoths U.S.-based Boeing and
European Airbus.
“We have already shown strong commercial interest and momentum to
meet the real airline demand for this aircraft,” CEO Tom O'Leary
said. “So this is more than just a factory. It’s a launchpad for a
new chapter of American aerospace.”
While a variant of the Z4 would have tanker and transport uses in
the military, JetZero has said that it would focus first on building
a commercial jetliner with about 250 seats and a range of 5,000
nautical miles.
The 5-year-old company says the plane’s shape will reduce drag and
the mounting of engines on the top and back of the plane will make
it much quieter than traditional airliners. The Z4 would run on
conventional jet fuel but could be converted to hydrogen fuel,
according to JetZero.
JetZero says Z4 travelers will board through larger doors and into
shorter but wider cabins, and aisles will be less congested as
bathrooms will be far away from galleys where meals are prepared.
“It's going to deliver a better passenger experience than you’ve
ever had before on any other plane,” O'Leary said.
Stein said the state is already home to more than 400 aerospace
companies. And the Piedmont Triad airport has emerged as an industry
hot spot, with Honda Aircraft placing its headquarters there and
Boom Supersonic building its first full-scale manufacturing plant
for next-generation supersonic passenger jets.
The central location and easy access to interstates also lured
Toyota to build an electric battery plant in adjoining Randolph
County.
North Carolina's previous largest economic development project,
measured by employment, was revealed in 2022, when Vietnamese
automaker VinFast announced plans to build an electric vehicle
manufacturing plant in Chatham County, promising 7,500 jobs.
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