Electra has announced that it is investing $850 million to build its EL9 nine-seater hybrid-electric aircraft production facility in Springfield, Ohio.
The announcement was made on July 21, 2026, during Farnborough International Airshow, at an event attended by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Electra’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Marc Allen.
This new greenfield manufacturing facility will be located at AirPark Ohio, adjacent to Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport (SGH) and is estimated that the investment will create nearly 2,000 jobs in Clark County, Ohio.
The plant will be able to assemble 400 aircraft per year at first, but there are plans to expand this figure to 800 aircraft per year at a later date.
In a press release, Electra explained that Springfield had been selected from140 potential locations across the United States. The decision was based on a combination of suitability criteria which included workforce availability, infrastructure readiness, the opportunities for long-term capacity expansion, and the different public support incentive programs at hand.
Planning and design work on the new 96-acre facility will start immediately, with actual construction expected to begin in 2027.
Electra’s decision is a strong endorsement of Ohio’s aim to become a major hub of aerospace development and manufacturing. This Midwestern state, which takes pride in being the birthplace of the Wright Brothers and has adopted “Birthplace of Aviation” as its motto, has been actively trying to lure aerospace companies to invest in it.
This strategy appears to have started to bear fruit. Joby Aviation, for example, selected Dayton, Ohio, as its main manufacturing facility and Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport, where Electra will be building the EL9, hosts the National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence (NAAMCE) as well as SkyVision, the FAA-approved ground-based detect-and-avoid system that enables beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight testing in unrestricted airspace. This allows companies to move from concept to flight test faster than anywhere else in the United States.