Broomfield-based Pilatus breaks ground on new facility, to add 60 jobs by 2020

BROOMFIELD — Pilatus Business Aircraft Ltd. last week broke ground on a new 118,000-square-foot facility at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport that is expected to accommodate the addition of 60 jobs at the Broomfield-based company by 2020.

The new facility, slated for completion in the spring of 2018, will help Pilatus consolidate its operations at the airport, where it leases 14 different hangars and about 75 percent of the terminal building now. But it will also provide added space as the company brings a new aircraft — the PC-24 twin-engine jet — online next year.

Pilatus Business Aircraft is a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss company Pilatus Aircraft Ltd., which had sales of about $1.1 billion last year. Founded in 1996, the local subsidiary is responsible for sales, marketing and servicing of Pilatus’ PC-12 single-engine turbo-prop planes in North and South America. The local operations are also responsible for finishing interior and exterior work to customer specifications for about 70 percent of the PC-12s that come off the production line in Switzerland.

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Pilatus, 11900 Airport Way, employs about 80 people in Broomfield now, and aims to ramp up to 140 once the new facility is at full production, said Tom Aniello, vice president of marketing for the local firm.

Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport lies along the border of Broomfield and Jefferson counties, and is owned and operated by Jefferson County.

Pilatus’ new facility will be on the west side of the airport near Simms Street and Colorado Highway 128 on Jefferson County land. Pilatus will lease the land from the airport, and own the building. The company has not disclosed the cost of the new building.

Tectonic Management Group of Wheat Ridge is managing design and construction services for the new facility.

“Pilatus has enjoyed steady growth in the business aviation market in our 20 years at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, and we are delighted to have the confidence to expand our operations and employment here in Jefferson County,” Pilatus Business Aircraft president and CEO Thomas Bosshard said in a prepared statement.