Airbus celebrates 20 years in Columbus

Airbus helicopters coming out of the Golden Triangle are making an impact across the globe, but the company's impact at home is just as important.

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Twenty years ago, it was a dream. Now, it is a reality. Airbus is celebrating 20 years in Columbus, Mississippi serving first responders, the Emergency Management Agency, Law enforcement, and businesses all over the nation.

In Columbus, Airbus manufactures 70-90 helicopters per year for the U.S. Government.

The leadership 20 years ago went to Eurocopter in France and made the case that Columbus Mississippi was the best place in the nation for a new facility.

Senator Roger Wicker served in the Air Force before serving in Congress.

He said it feels good to have the state be a part of providing aircraft that serve such essential defense roles.

“This is a solution to national defense, these Helicopters that we make right here in Mississippi are gonna help us with border protection, homeland security, and also continue to help the army,” Wicker said.

U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith was in the Mississippi Legislature when what was then Eurocopter landed in the Golden Triangle. She said seeing the impact the company has made in the past 20 years makes her proud.

“To be part of the national security, you know, we know what the border crisis is, to know that Mississippi plays a major role in that. To know that we can capitalize on 20 years of success and look into the future of better things to come, just as we have in the past,” Hyde-Smith said.”

Airbus helicopters coming out of the Golden Triangle are making an impact across the globe, but the company’s impact at home is just as important.

“This provides such good jobs for the people of this area, to grow the jobs, to have the stability that people can come to work every day, with the pride that they come with, not just for the job they do here, but they can provide for their families here. They can provide not only for Mississippi but this entire nation,” Hyde-Smith said.

“I also see a great future in private companies, and the private sector use to people not only here in Columbus, and Mississippi, but all over the country,” Wicker said.

Airbus also has locations in Alabama, Kansas, and Virginia, and it employs over 32 hundred people.