From Mecklenburg County’s bulletin-board:
In April, the Board indicated its intent to approve a five-year Business Investment Grant to US Airways. US Airways had planned to invest up to $84 million over five years for seven new flight simulators to train pilots on new aircraft. The five-year grant had an estimated value of $2.4 million (combined City and County), and made eligible all simulators placed in Charlotte by US Airways before the end of 2012. Staff recommended that the grant begin after US Airways had placed three new simulators in Charlotte and hired 90 new jobs at an average wage of $150,000.
Due to a general slowdown in the industry, US Airways has informed us of a delay in the schedule for the purchase of new simulators. Two new simulators ordered last year are expected to be delivered to Charlotte in the coming weeks, but these will not result in new job growth.
Given this development, staff recommends that we defer formal consideration of the Business Investment Grant until US Airways moves forward with a plan to purchase additional flight simulators beyond the two that will be delivered shortly. Further consideration of a Business Investment Grant would be contingent upon new job creation.
In other words, general economic conditions drove the simulator purchase decision, not the existence of $2.4m. handout from local taxpayers to US Airways. It is ever so.
Responsible local officials would rescind the handout and apologize for their mistake.
