Miami-Dade receives new Bombardier service center
From David Volz
A group of Miami-Dade leaders joined Bombardier to inaugurate the company’s new Miami-Opa Locka Service Center at Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport (OPF). At full capacity, the new service center plans to add close to 300 aerospace jobs in the community, including more than 225 highly skilled technicians.
The 300,000-square-foot facility – the company’s largest in North America – will more than quadruple Bombardier’s current maintenance footprint in Florida and allow the company to transfer its service center operations from Fort Lauderdale to the new one-of-a-kind customer service center at OPF, located close to Miami’s business district.
“The U.S. is an important market for Bombardier with close to 3,000 aircraft in our fleet, and this highly efficient facility provides a key focal point for customers based in the area, and those who will visit from as far as Latin America,” said Éric Martel, President and CEO, Bombardier. “Bombardier began this year by naming Wichita as our new headquarters in the U.S, and I am delighted to highlight this inauguration that significantly grows our footprint and employment base in Florida. Miami is a vibrant, international hub of business and commerce and we can’t wait to welcome our customers to our new facility and see our employees continue to thrive and grow.”
The new facility is fully equipped to perform extensive and complete full-service scheduled and unscheduled heavy maintenance, paint enhancement services, aircraft modifications, avionics installations, and Aircraft on Ground Support (AOG) for Bombardier’s business aircraft fleet of Learjet, Challenger, and Global aircraft. The expanded hangar at the service center is also capable of holding an impressive 18 Bombardier Global 7500 aircraft under one roof.
“Congratulations to Bombardier on the successful completion of its newest service center, which has brought hundreds of new jobs and millions of dollars in private investment to Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport and Miami-Dade County,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “We are extremely proud to now be home to one of Bombardier’s 10 service centers worldwide and a hub for its customers in the U.S. and Latin America.”
The facility also features the major sculptural installation JANUS PORTAL by Miami-based artist Troy Simmons, in partnership with Bombardier and Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places. Simmons’ massive 22-foot concrete, aluminum, and steel sculpture was inspired by his 2018 sculpture VORTEX. The works share similarities through the mediums used, the distinct aluminum extrusions defining the interiors of each piece and exhibiting the artist’s perennial interests in brutalist form and organic design. JANUS PORTAL greatly expands the scale of VORTEX and takes additional inspiration from the architecture of Bombardier’s service center, designed by the architecture firm Jacobs.
For Bombardier, Simmons designed a freestanding, cantilevered structure that fits the architectural motifs of the building itself. The interior entryway to Bombardier’s state-of-the-art service center is reminiscent of a plane taking off, while winglike imposts pay homage to the company’s iconic aviation designs. The concrete exterior, hand-fabricated by Simmons, is reminiscent of the abraded urban surfaces that the artist locates as the foundation of modern development, struggle, and growth.
Beneath this brutalist facade, an undulating network of aluminum extrusions catches and guides the eye through the main entrance – a corpus of pathways that simultaneously appear synthetic and biological. The resulting installation inverts the building’s structure and dimensions to create something new: an entryway that captures the excitement of destinations to come.
