Opened on Monday, the new facility will largely focus on structural and manufacturing engineering, as well as software and systems engineering, which will later be applied to various commercial, defense, and service programs.

Hundreds of new jobs will be filled as a result, in addition to the 1,100 people Boeing currently employs in the northern city of Gdańsk and the south-eastern city of Rzeszów.

Linda Hapgood, the Vice President of Boeing, said that the decision to expand operations was “natural” due to the number of customers here as well as the presence of industrial and research partners including aviation institutes. Continuing, she added that Poland’s skilled workforce had influenced the decision.

Science Minister Dariusz Wieczorek also spoke of Poland’s research potential and how it could serve the global aviation industry in the future.

The Boeing Company has operated in Poland for 35 years.