Vertical integration is easy to claim and expensive to build. The two pieces flyExclusive still bought from other people were simulator time and out-of-state heavy maintenance. Both are now coming to Kinston.
flyExclusive has secured a $30 million grant from North Carolina to expand its maintenance operation and develop a pilot training facility at the Global TransPark in Kinston. The project is anticipated to generate more than 100 new aviation jobs in Lenoir County.
The funding was authorised under Senate Bill 257 (Session Law 2026-41), signed on 7 July 2026. The North Carolina Global TransPark Authority will retain ownership of the facility while flyExclusive operates it under a long-term lease, with the company contributing significant private investment of its own.
What comes back in-state
The training centre addresses a cost that currently leaves North Carolina entirely. flyExclusive expects the facility to repatriate approximately $5 million a year in pilot training paid today to out-of-state providers — along with more than 8,000 hotel room nights per year that go with sending crews away to train. Simulators valued at roughly $12 million each will add to local property tax revenue.
The maintenance side follows the same logic. The expanded facility will include paint, avionics and refurbishment capability, allowing more scheduled and unscheduled work to be completed in North Carolina. The bulk of the company’s $75 million annual maintenance spend currently happens outside the state.
Why it matters operationally
- Simulator capacity the company controls means recurrent training and type transitions get scheduled around the flying, not around a third-party provider’s calendar.
- More heavy maintenance in Kinston shortens the ferry legs and the queues that stretch an inspection into weeks.
- A training pipeline in the same town as the hangars keeps the crew and technician paths visible to the same local labour market.
Our people set flyExclusive apart, and this facility lets us develop world-class pilots and create hundreds of aviation careers here in North Carolina.
Jim Segrave, Founder and Chief Executive Officer
The announcement sits inside a broader 2026 growth plan that also included opening a corporate office in Raleigh as an additional talent hub. Kinston remains the operational and MRO centre of the company.
More on the maintenance organisation: Maintenance, Facilities and Careers.
Based on the company press release of 29 July 2026. Read the original on the flyExclusive investor relations site.
