Take-off for jet parts firm
A new Black Country firm has been set up building parts for jets which can be ordered like taxis.
A new Black Country firm has been set up building parts for jets which can be ordered like taxis.
US firm Samuel, Son and Co has opened a factory on the Hurst Business Park, Brierley Hill, next to Merry Hill, creating up to 20 jobs.
The workforce is involved in cutting aluminium used to make twin-engine jets as part of a new concept for a fleet of taxi-planes. Hundreds of the jets, which can fly at 40,000ft - the same level as commercial airliners, have already been ordered in America and Europe by companies.
They are preparing to operate them as taxis in the air with people able to ring up and order a flight, just like ordering a cab.
Such services are already up and running in America.
The firm at Two Locks, Brierley Hill, has been formed from a joint venture between Samuel, Son and Co, which Samuel Son and Co has a turnover of more than four billion dollars, and Reading- based Generation Metals Limited.
The new UK firm is known as Samuel and will operate from its new 23,000sq-ft base next to the Merry Hill shopping centre.
Malcolm Mitson, spokes-man for Generation Metals Ltd, said: "It is making private air travel available for normal people. It is something that is really going to vamp up over the next few years so the workforce will grow here in Brierley Hill."
Steve Perriton, partner of Bulleys Chartered Surveyors, which runs the business park in Brierley Hill, said it was a boost for Brierley Hill.
He said: "This joint venture and commitment by Samuel, Son and Co, of Canada, is an important deal for the Black Country, as it is hi-tech manufacturing."
The business park and the surrounding Brierley Hill area is set to get a further boost under a masterplan rubber-stamped by the government last month.
Brierley Hill is to join Wol-verhampton city centre and Walsall and West Bromwich town centres as the Black Country's fourth strategic centre. These will be the focus for new commercial and retail development, creating jobs and new homes.
Improving transport links also form part of the strategy with greater "connectivity" between the national rail and motorway networks, local rail and bus services, and proposed extensions to the Midland Metro light tram system.
By Ben Lammas
