Air traffic surveillance company Aireon is expanding in Fairfax County

Aireon, an air traffic surveillance company, is expanding its office space within Tysons by nearly 150 percent to accommodate more than 50 new jobs over the next three years, the company said.

.@AireonLLC, an innovative provider of air traffic surveillance systems, is moving its HQ within the #Tysons area of the county, creating more than 50 new jobs over the next three years. https://t.co/pOTsZNzIR0 pic.twitter.com/70f4fb9uaO

— Fairfax County EDA (@FairfaxEDA) July 22, 2019

Founded in 2011, the company provides surveillance and tracking for air traffic using a space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast network. Aireon said its system can provide worldwide coverage, while current ground-based systems can only provide coverage of 30 percent of the globe.

“Aireon chose to remain in Fairfax County and expand the headquarters due to its proximity to downtown Washington, D.C., the Federal Aviation Administration and the area’s regional and international airports,” Rich Nyren, CFO of Aireon, said in a statement. “Additionally, Fairfax County has access to world-class public transportation, shops and restaurants and attracts some of the most educated workforce from the abundance of globally recognized local universities. We saw this as the perfect location to grow our company and enter the next stage of our operations.”

The company is now leasing 260,000 square feet of office space locate at 8484 Westpark Drive in Tysons. The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) worked with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership on the expansion project. The pair will support Aireon’s team expansion through the state-funed Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP), an initiative that provides consulting services and funding to companies to support employee training efforts.

“Fairfax County has long been an ideal location for businesses that are innovating new technologies and want to be close to a talented workforce and to policymakers, and Aireon continues that tradition,” Catherine W. Riley, interim president and CEO of the FCEDA, said in a statement. “We are pleased to help Aireon expand as it finds new ways to improve the safety of air travel around the world.”

This expansion announcement comes after Aireon debuted its fully operational real-time, space-based aircraft tracking system in April.