HISTORY

On October 10, 2011, Honda announced on the campus of Guilford Technical Community College that the company would construct an 80,000 square foot facility near the world headquarters of Honda Aircraft Company in Greensboro, North Carolina and add over 400 jobs to the city.

The corporate headquarters are located at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, where the prototype HondaJet was also developed and flight tested. In February, 2007, the Honda Aircraft Company announced plans to build a 214,000-square-foot (19,900 m²) office and manufacturing facility in Greensboro to support HondaJet production.

In 2015, the Honda Aircraft Company received type certification for its first aircraft, the HondaJet. The first delivery occurred on December 23, 2015. In 2018, the company introduced the HondaJet Elite, which featured upgraded avionics, increased range, and an optional galley. That same year, Honda Aircraft Company began offering the HondaJet APMG to existing HondaJet customers, which provided many of the upgrades seen in the HondaJet Elite. In May 2021, the company announced the HondaJet Elite S, which improved on the Elite’s avionics system, maximum takeoff weight, and range.

After receiving FAA type-certification in 2015, over the next few years Honda Aircraft Company expanded its sales operations to many other countries.

In 2018, Honda Aircraft Company began partnering with other companies to provide aircraft for charter.

On May 20, 2019, Honda Aircraft Company announced that they were building a new 15.5 million dollar facility in Greensboro N.C., which was completed in September 2020.

In October 2021, Honda Aircraft unveiled the HondaJet 2600 Concept, a new aircraft concept, during the 2021 NBAA Convention held in Las Vegas. This concept design uses many of the elements of the original HondaJet, such as the over-wing engine placement, but features a larger cabin with room for 11 passengers and a longer range of 2,625 nm (4,862 km). Honda Aircraft announced the HondaJet 2600 Concept to determine market interest, and subsequently announced the commercialization of the concept on June 13, 2023.

In February 2022, Honda Aircraft announced that founder Michimasa Fujino would retire as president and CEO of the company on April 1, and that Honda Motor vice president Hideto Yamasaki would assume leadership of Honda Aircraft upon the retirement of Fujino, who would continue as a consultant for the company.

In October 2023, Honda Aircraft named the Honda 2600 Concept the HondaJet Echelon during the 2023 NBAA Convention in Las Vegas. The development timeline for the project includes construction beginning in early 2024, with the first flight planned in 2026 and certification anticipated in 2028.

Source: Wikipedia