French aerospace company Daher is one step closer to assembling TBM and Kodiak turboprops at its manufacturing site in Florida after securing a new lease on the facility.
The company said on 16 January that commissioners in Florida’s Martin County approved a new long-term lease, marking a “new milestone for the company’s presence in the strategic North American marketplace”.
“The newly approved lease at Witham Field provides the potential for additional enhancements at the Daher site, as well as opportunities for business growth,” Daher says. “This includes Daher’s intention to create a final assembly line at the location to build the company’s own TBM/Kodiak turboprop-powered aircraft families, introducing the first production of state-of-the-art airplanes in Martin County.”
The lease covers a “multi-decade timeframe”, says Daher. It is not more specific. The company will also invest $30 million to redevelop its facilities at Witham Field, according to a report from West Palm Beach news outlet WPTV.
Daher acquired the Stuart business in 2022 from Triumph Group as part of a push to expand its North American presence. At the site, it manufactures aerostructures, including horizontal stabilisers for Boeing 767s.
The company also owns aircraft makers TBM and Kodiak, assembling single-turboprop TBM 910s and 960s in Tarbes, France, and manufacturing Kodiak single-turboprop 100s and 900s in Sandpoint, Idaho.
“As we look to the future, the Witham Field location will offer a full scope of employment opportunities, ranging from aerostructures and aircraft assemblers to positions in quality and management,” says Daher’s general manager in Stuart, Stephen Stasiak.
Asked to elaborate about its aircraft-assembly plans in Stuart, the company says, “Daher is establishing the timeline and details for the TBM/Kodiak [final assembly line]”.
Daher last year told FlightGlobal it was considering producing aircraft in Stuart to help overcome capacity constraints in France and to head off protectionist policies potentially coming from a new US administration.
At the time, Daher chief executive Didier Kayat said TBM’s and Kodiak’s faced capacity constraints and could accommodate production of only about 90 aircraft annually. Daher delivered 82 aircraft in 2024 wants to further hike output.
“We will have to invest in new capacity, most likely by opening a third production line,” Kayat said last year.
Daher does not specify the duration of the new lease agreement for the Stuart site but says it enables continued ”production of large airframer structures… as a Tier 1 supplier to major aircraft manufacturers.”
Daher employs 700 people at the 440,000ft sq site in Stuart, where it makes components including 767 horizontal stabilisers. Boeing still holds 109 unfilled 767 orders, though that likely equates to only several more years of production.
Daher acquired the Stuart business in 2022 from Triumph Group and in 2023 sued Triumph in a New York court. The lawsuit alleges that prior to the sale Triumph misrepresented aspects of the Stuart by failing to disclose having stopped complying with Boeing’s specifications. That case is ongoing.
