LEESBURG Wipaire brings high-paying jobs to Leesburg 1 - TopicsExpress

LEESBURG Wipaire brings high-paying jobs to Leesburg 1 image Brett Le Blanc / Daily Commercial Aircraft Mechanic Pete Nunez, 52, installs wingtip fuel tanks on a Cessna 206 at Wipaire, Inc.s hangar at the Leesburg International Airport in Leesburg, Fla., on Tuesday. While Wipaire Inc. is most famous for their airplane floats, the Minnesota company sells and installs an array of modifications for different types of aircraft. Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on pinterest_share More Sharing Services 11 Theresa Campbell | Staff Writer theresacampbell@dailycommercial | Updated 1 week ago H igh-paying jobs are landing at Leesburg International Airport with Leesburg officials coming to terms this week on a lease agreement for Wipaire Inc. to provide 60 full-time jobs related to aircraft maintenance, avionics repair and more. “A vote for this lease is a vote for jobs, high-paying jobs,” Lee Webb, vice president of aircraft services for Wipaire, said Monday night as he addressed the city commission. “I was a little surprised when I recently read that the average hourly wage in Lake County is $14.96 an hour, and the current staff that we have here now, and that we are bringing and recruiting, the average hourly rate is little over $32 an hour, so it’s a significant difference.” Webb said Wipaire has been around for 54 years in St. Paul, Minn., before the company chose to expand to Leesburg as its southeastern service center, where the big draw for Wipaire was the city’s proximity to Lake Harris and the Tavares seaplane base, as well as the number of floatplanes and seaplane-rated pilots in the region. The company services aircraft ranging in size from small single-engine aircraft such as the Piper Super Cub up to single-engine turboprops like the Quest Kodiak and Cessna Caravan series. Wipaire began operations at the Leesburg airport in January 2013, although terms of its lease have been under negotiations this past year. “This is our first venture outside of our home base,” Webb said of the business that is now attracting pilots who do not want to fly to Minnesota in the winter to have work done on their aircraft. Wipaire is currently working on six planes at its Leesburg service site and is making improvements at its hangar facility. It also plans to expand the building by an additional 5,000 square feet for more than 15,000 square feet of space. Leesburg Airport Manager Leo Triggi said the airport is soaring to new heights with Wipaire providing aircraft service, and he predicts it will be the start of more economic development. “We expect a lot of other business to come and existing businesses at the airport to expand. There are two or three others that are in line to come to Leesburg,” Triggi said Wednesday, although he did not reveal the companies by name. Triggi also predicts that Leesburg will expand its seaplane activity after a seaplane ramp is built into Lake Harris. Commissioner Elise Dennison said Wednesday she is thrilled the contract with Wipaire has been signed and she joins her fellow commissioners in wanting to see more airplane-related companies based at the airport. “The $32 an hour is one of the highest paying levels in Leesburg,” she said. “Wipaire is willing to train there (at its facility), but as this company grows, they would like to see more training come to this area. What I’m trying to do along with this, is to meet with some of the educators in the area (Lake-Sumter State College and Lake Tech) to see about setting up an airplane mechanical-type school, so that we can go ahead and actually train individuals in this type of work and work hand-in-hand with Wipaire.” Dennison envisions other businesses at the airport in the future, such as restaurants where people can come down and have lunch and watch the planes fly in and take off. “There is a lot that we can do with Leesburg airport,” she said, calling it one of the city’s jewels. “The airport is absolutely one of my top projects, and I’m going to work them as long as I can and keep that moving along. We have a good advisory board over there to help with what is going on and now that Leo is on board, we’re starting to get everything right in place.”