De Havilland Canada announces site of new Alberta aircraft manufacturing facility

De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited announced that the site of its new aircraft manufacturing facility will be in Wheatland County, Alberta, approximately 30 minutes east of Calgary.  This new facility will be called De Havilland Field and will consist of a new, state-of-the-art aircraft assembly facility, runway, parts manufacturing and distribution centres and maintenance repair and overhaul centre. In addition, educational space for training the workforce of the future is planned as well as general office buildings and a De Havilland Canada aircraft museum. 

These operations will complement our current parts manufacturing facilities in Victoria, British Columbia as well as our new engineering and customer support centre of excellence in Toronto, Ontario. 

Brian Chafe, Chief Executive Officer De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited, commented: “De Havilland Field will be the home of assembly and production of reliable and rugged Canadian aircraft that serve missions around the world. This is the start of a new chapter for both De Havilland Canada and Canadian aerospace and we are excited about beginning the process with Wheatland County to provide new aviation opportunities for Canada and Alberta.” 

De Havilland Field will be the site of final assembly for the DHC-515 Firefighter aircraft, which was launched earlier this year, the DHC-6 Twin Otter as well as the Dash 8-400 aircraft. We are currently working towards bringing the DHC-6 Twin Otter and Dash 8-400 aircraft back into production. 

The location of De Havilland Field is ideal, having access to a large, young and diverse labour pool in Alberta, family-friendly cost of living, and a world-class international airport that can support efficient parts distribution to our global customer base. We anticipate that once in full operation, there will be up to 1500 jobs located at De Havilland Field. 

The development of De Havilland Field is subject to an amendment to the Wheatland County Area Structure Plan as well as re-zoning by the County. De Havilland expects to submit these applications shortly and is committed to working with Wheatland County and Wheatland County residents as we move through the Area Structure Plan and re-zoning processes. In addition, there are approval processes required by Transport Canada and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.