With predictions of 14,500 jobs, North Carolina officials joined JetZero executives Monday to kick off what both parties say could be the largest, private jobs project the state has ever seen.
Read more This NC county lacks zoning. Residents say it’s a problem that should be fixed.
A ceremonial groundbreaking took place at Greensboro’s Piedmont Triad International Airport, where JetZero has promised to create this record-setting number of jobs and invest $4.7 billion by the end of 2037. At minimum, the company must hire at least 8,000 workers over the next 11 years and pay average wages above $80,000 to comply with its state incentive agreement.
A six-year-old California startup, JetZero is developing a unique passenger aircraft it expects will disrupt a $400 billion-plus sector dominated by Boeing and Airbus. Resembling a manta ray or flying squirrel, the company’s “Z4” prototype has a flatter, blended wing body which JetZero says will be more fuel efficient than traditional tube-and-wing airplane designs. JetZero plans to first fly its Z4 demonstrator aircraft in 2027.
The company expects each plane will seat up to 250 passengers and be at least 30% more aerodynamic.
In lauding the company’s plans, several people who spoke at Monday’s ceremony referred to the first powered flight by Wilbur and Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk.
“In 1903, they made North Carolina the first in flight,” said Gov. Josh Stein. “Today, we are the future of flight.”
The ceremony took place under a tent overlooking a former golf course that Piedmont Triad International Airport bought several years ago with an eye toward luring companies that want to be near its runways. Kevin Baker, the airport’s executive director, said they were standing near the old course’s fourth hole, a par 3, and presented a golf club to JetZero CEO Tom O’Leary inscribed, “Hole 4 to Z4.”
The JetZero site is connected to the rest of the airport with a $20 million bridge the N.C. Department of Transportation built when it extended Interstate 73 past the airport. The size of two football fields side by side, the bridge will allow planes to taxi from the JetZero factory to the runways.
O’Leary cited decisions to buy the golf course and build the bridge as helping the California-based company choose North Carolina for its first factory and its new headquarters.
“This is a real growth-oriented mindset,” he said. “And so it really set Greensboro apart when we were searching for a home.”
O’Leary and Mark Page founded JetZero in 2020. Page is an industry veteran who helped pioneer the unique wing shape JetZero pursues.
Read more How the 2026 Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes were built
The blended wing is the design used for the B-2 bomber, introduced in 1997, but it hasn’t been brought to market in a passenger plane. O’Leary credited NASA for the research and development that made JetZero possible.
“We are indebted to NASA for carrying the torch and moving blended-wing technology forward over the years,” he said. “Investing over $1 billion in maturing this technology so we could eventually bring it to market and produce it right here in Greensboro.”
JetZero is trying to break into a commercial aviation market dominated by Boeing and Airbus, which account for over 90% of passenger aircraft manufacturing. Among the airlines that have shown interest in its plane are Alaska Airlines and United.
The company also looks toward defense. In 2023, the U.S. Air Force awarded it a $235 million contract to build a full-scale demonstrator jet. And in January, the startup announced it had raised approximately $175 million in Series B funding, with investments from United Airlines, Northrop Grumman, 3M, and RTX (formerly Raytheon), among others.
JetZero showed renderings of what will eventually be an 8-million-square-foot manufacturing plant where the Z4 aircraft will be assembled. Before construction begins, the company is renovating a three-story office building it has renamed The Hub where it hopes to attract “world-class talent” to develop the new plane.
JetZero is relying on state support to realize its Greensboro campus. In May 2025, North Carolina awarded the company over $1 billion in payroll tax breaks over 37 years, if JetZero reaches and then maintains its loftiest North Carolina hiring and investment benchmarks. In addition to this performance-based incentive, the North Carolina General Assembly also committed to allocate $450 million over the next few years to help JetZero launch its campus.
Citing the ongoing state budget delay, JetZero last month asked the N.C. Department of Commerce to push back its initial hiring requirement (1,150 jobs) by one year, from 2027 to 2028. The state approved the change.
“JetZero’s job creation and investment commitments remain unchanged with state appropriations being distributed over multiple fiscal years as intended,” N.C. Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley told The News & Observer in a statement Friday. “We continue to work closely with JetZero on our agreements for this innovative product and look forward to celebrating their groundbreaking with our partners in Guilford County on Monday.”
Most economic projects North Carolina awards incentives to never reach their initial hiring targets. Some high-profile campuses never even get off the ground. JetZero’s jobs target of 14,564 breaks the record for a state-backed economic project previously held by the Vietnamese automaker VinFast, which in 2022 promised 7,500 jobs in Chatham County. North Carolina recently sued VinFast to reclaim the site after the company failed to build a factory.
Read more Chapel Hill man drowns in Jordan Lake. Chatham officials stress life jacket use.
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 1:26 PM.