Garmin opens aircraft certification and flight test facility at Arizona airport

Garmin announced on Tuesday that it has acquired a hangar and office complex at the Mesa Gateway Airport (IWA) in Mesa, Arizona.
The facility will be used for aircraft certification and flight tests. It consists of two hangars that are 75,000 sq. ft., including office space for up to 75 workers. IWA has three parallel runways that Garmin claims provide an ideal flight operations setting. The location joins Garmin’s existing flight operations centers in New Century, Kansas and Salem, Oregon.
We are excited to add another aviation facility to our business,” said Phil Straub, Garmin executive VP and managing director of aviation. “The capabilities this location will provide are instrumental in extending aircraft airworthiness approvals and market coverage for our product lines. This expansion represents Garmin’s continued investment in infrastructure that supports growth and innovation in our aviation business segment.”
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The Arizona area has been a Garmin engineering hub for more than 25 years, starting with a facility in Tempe and then later moving to a larger facility in Chandler. The company later expanded to Scottsdale in 2019 after acquiring AeroData. Garmin claims the close proximity of these locations will provide support and infrastructure as the company hires associates for the engineering, aircraft airworthiness approvals and flight test teams in Mesa.