Wayne T. Price

FLORIDA TODAY

MELBOURNE – The financial misfortunes of MidAir USA at Orlando Melbourne International Airport provided an opportunity for a Detroit-area company to move its corporate headquarters – and one of its maintenance and repair operations – to the Space Coast.

That company, Aeromod International LLC, currently based in Romulus, Michigan, is looking to initially hire 50 to 100 aviation tech workers and program managers as it prepares to move on April 1 into an 80,000-square-foot hangar at the southeast corner of the airport.

Aeromod's tech jobs will range in pay from $55,000 to $75,000 annually while the program manager jobs will run from $80,000 to $100,000.

For now, the main work in Melbourne will involve retrofitting aircraft with systems for in-plane wireless connectivity, primarily Gogo Inflight Internet – a ground-to-aircraft feed – and systems based on satellite-to-aircraft communications.

The company boasts it has the fastest installation time for these in-plane systems versus its competitors.

New tenant for huge airport hangar

Rodney Willits, regional director for Aeromod's Asia-Pacific and Middle East Region, told FLORIDA TODAY that for some time the company has sought an available wide-bodied aircraft hangar in the southeastern United States that had a couple things going for it: A qualified labor pool to draw from, and a closer proximity to commercial airline hubs like Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.

"We were very keen to go south, especially around the Florida region because there are a lot of international airlines that use that state as a hub," Willits said. "And we found out the hangar was available in Melbourne."

A core team of technicians will remain in the Detroit area to complete contracts while the administrative team will move here over the next few months.

Last Monday, the Airport Authority signed a 10-year lease with Aeromod that's expected to bring in nearly $647,000 in annual revenue to the airport.

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Just as importantly, maybe, is that the Aeromod lease also saves the former MidAir hangar from being without a tenant. MidAir, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year in upstate New York, ran into financial problems when it's No. 1 customer, the Russian-based Transaero airlines, was absorbed by Aeroflot, that country's top commercial carrier.

The Aeroflot takeover of Transaero, along with the the shrinking value of Russian ruble, spelled the end for the carrier and, essentially, MidAir.

Now it's Aeromod's turn. It's customers include Delta, Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic and the new Miami-based Eastern Airlines.

Aeromod's move here also dovetails nicely with a new aviation maintenance program offered by Eastern Florida State College. The college's campus for that program is just minutes from the company's hangar on airport property.

Contact Price at 321-242-3658 or wprice@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Fla2dayBiz