Duval County

New project could soon bring more jobs to Cecil Airport in Jacksonville

DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. — A new $20 million infrastructure project could soon bring in more jobs to Cecil Airport on Jacksonville’s westside.

Gov. Ron DeSantis stopped by Cecil Airport Thursday morning to deliver a $6 million check to help expand job growth in the area.

It’s part of a partnership between Enterprise Florida, Space Florida, the Florida Department of Transportation, the city of Jacksonville, and Jacksonville Aviation Authority.

DeSantis said the new development will more than double the number of employees in the area.

DEVELOPING: NCIS raids home on Jacksonville’s Southside

“Adding more than 3,780 new jobs and bringing the total number of jobs at the airport to 6,251. The infrastructure project is also expected to double the economic impact of Cecil Airport to more than seven billion dollars annually,” DeSantis said.

The new access road is almost two miles long. It starts at 103rd Street and goes straight into Cecil Airport.

The $6 million check presented came from the Governor’s Job Growth Grant Fund and was given to support the construction.

This will allow for more launch operations at the airport from the space port and develop more aircrafts.

“There’s already, you know, companies developing hypersonic crafts and satellite launch systems at Cecil and our continued investment, which we have been doing, they’ve been able to expand in Jacksonville. This is Generation Orbit and they’re scheduled to begin their launch, their operations next year,” DeSantis said.

LIST: City of Jacksonville offering COVID-19 booster shots at these locations

The Florida governor said the new road project will also help new companies move into the area.

Some of the potential jobs being added include scientists, engineers, logistics, and manufacturing.

JAA couldn’t give Action News Jax a date on when this project would start. All it could say was as soon as possible.