2025 Annual Comprehensive Report

The aviation industry is one of the critical business sectors of the Triad’s economic development strategy. With the ongoing collaboration of the public and private sector organizations and the educational community, the Triad is poised for strong future growth in aeronautics. Local aviation-related businesses draw heavily from the aviation workforce-training program at Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC) whose program has grown steadily in recent years. The GTCC Aviation III facility is located on a 23-acre campus at PTIA and includes aviation management and pilot programs as well as customized industry training. GTCC’s aviation program is one of the largest in North Carolina and serves as a model for other community colleges. The college recently added a fifth degree program to GTCC’s aviation training, aero structures manufacturing and repair, that will prepare students for specialization in an industrial and advanced manufacturing setting. JetZero , an aviation startup company was founded in 2021 with initial funding supplied by the U.S. Air Force, NASA, and a small group of private investors. JetZero’s Z4 project is designed to carry 250 passengers, targeting the New Midmarket Airplane category. In June 2025, the company announced it will invest $4.7 billion to build its first manufacturing plant at Piedmont Triad International Airport. The project will produce its next-generation middle of the market passenger aircraft, the Z4, creating over 14,500 jobs when completed by the end of 2036. The average annual earnings at the facility are projected to be $89,340. Economic development incentives include $1.7 billion in total at the state level and approximately $90 million combined from Guilford County and the City of Greensboro. Honda Aircraft Company , a division of Honda Motor Company, invested $155 million in 2006 to establish its world headquarters at the 133-acre campus at PTIA in Greensboro to include manufacturing, testing, training, maintenance and customer service facilities. In July 2023, Honda Aircraft announced its investment of $55.7 million to build its HondaJet 2600 aircraft, a new larger light jet, at its PTIA facility in Greensboro. The aircraft will be the first light jet built for transcontinental flights with expanded seating up to 11 people. The project is expected to create 280 high-skilled jobs through 2027 at an average wage of just over $88,000. This project brings Honda Aircraft’s total investment in the State to more than $335 million. The company currently employs approximately 1,000 people at its PTIA campus. Marshall Aerospace , specializing in maintenance and repair of military aircraft, is investing $50 million to build and operate a six-bay complex for aircraft maintenance, repair, overhaul and painting, with room for two additional bays. The facility was completed and operational in early 2025 and expects to reach total employment of 240 over four years, with a projected average annual salary of $74,566. In April 2023, City Council approved an incentive package for $240,000. Marshall has also received incentives from the N.C. Economic Investment Committee worth nearly $2.4 million over 12 years. In July 2020, Amazon began operations at its newly constructed one million-square-foot fulfillment center at Triad Business Park, situated between Greensboro and Winston-Salem. The 94-acre facility is valued at $110 million, employs approximately 1,000 workers, and is within a couple miles of the FedEx Ground operation and within 10 miles of the FedEx air and sorting hub at PTIA in Greensboro. Additionally, Amazon signed a second lease in April 2019 for 38 acres in the Piedmont Corporate Park. The ten-year lease began in August 2019 and includes five additional options to extend the lease by five years. Since 2019, Amazon has opened last-mile delivery facilities in Kernersville, Colfax and Whitsett, 14 miles east of Greensboro, employing between 100 and 200 workers. First National Bank Field, a minor league baseball stadium with a 7,499-seat capacity, opened in 2005 in the City’s downtown and is home to the Greensboro Grasshoppers , a Class A affiliate team of the Miami Marlins. Recent annual attendance averaged 285,000 for the period 2018 through 2024, excluding 2020 and 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic. Since the opening of the stadium, mixed-use development projects have been completed or are underway in the area surrounding the stadium.

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