An aviation company promising to bring hundreds of engineering and manufacturing jobs to Bend was given the green light by Bend city councilors to build a hangar at the city’s municipal airport.

The approval means Aircraft Investor Resources of Las Vegas will bring production of its unique, carbon composite six-passenger planes to the airport.

The company that built its prototype in Bend is expecting to start with 100 employees to deliver 16 planes on order at a price of $1.2 million to $1.9 million each. By 2007, it expects to have up to 400 workers making up to 75 planes annually, Rick Schrameck, chief executive officer, told The Bulletin in July.

Schrameck told the council Wednesday night that his company already has $30 million worth of orders for its planes after demonstrating the product at a Wisconsin air show this summer.

The company debuted the Epic LT jet prop prototype before invited members of the business community at the Redmond Airport in July.

Schrameck, of Las Vegas, said he was considering offers from two other states that wanted to lure the company there, but Dave Hice, general manager, was pulling for Central Oregon.

Last summer, the plane was still in the design stage when the company announced at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture, in Oshkosh, Wis., that it would fly its prototype to this year’s show, July 27.

The company boasted that its Bend team and Central Oregon contractors built the plane in record time.

A plane hadn’t been built that fast since the U.S. government produced the P-51 during World War II, according to the company.

It hired 25 employees in Bend to build the plane in a 12,000-square-foot warehouse under the Bend Parkway. The company founders showcased the plane in Oshkosh at the end of July for the show that draws general aviation’s top names and 700,000 attendees.

Hice, of Morganville, Calif., is building a house in Bend and moving with his family here next month. He said he favors the wholesome lifestyle and outdoor recreation the area offers, particularly for his three young daughters.

He and Schrameck have worked together at a dozen companies in the last 30 years. Throughout the years, Schrameck did the marketing, corporate development and strategic planning at Motorola and other high-tech companies. Hice worked with him in research and development and product and vendor relations.

In 1999, they built a Lancair 4P together at Lancair International, the airplane kit company in Redmond.

Hice said he realized the project was feasible and saw a gap in the market.

The Epic plane fits a price niche, he said. Other ”micro-jet” competitors, including Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland and TBM of France, are priced more than $1 million higher than the Epic LT and cost more to operate.

The Epic LT is faster because of its aerodynamic design and carbon fiber construction, according to the company. It has one turbine engine with the power to cruise at more than 350 knots and is less expensive that flying a twin-engine plane, according to the company.

The target market for the plane are companies with 100 to 200 employees, sales of $10 million to $25 million annually and a chief executive officer who is a pilot and has previously owned a plane.

It is a step up from smaller, Cessna planes, Schrameck said.

Since 9/11, the general aviation market has surged as corporate executives buy their own planes to avoid the delays and inconvenience of commercial flights. The efficiency of having their own planes justifies the cost, Schrameck said.