Corning flies to Charlotte the week of its major AI partnership announcement

Corning flew from Elmira-Corning Regional Airport to Charlotte Douglas International Airport on May 12, 2026, arriving at 12:51 UTC aboard its Falcon 900, tail number N38CG. The 78-minute flight brought the company's leadership to North Carolina the same week Corning and NVIDIA announced a multiyear partnership to build three new advanced manufacturing facilities in the state and in Texas, per a joint press release on May 6.

The partnership, covered by CNBC, will increase Corning's U.S. optical connectivity manufacturing capacity tenfold and create more than 3,000 jobs. NVIDIA invested $500 million in Corning and secured warrants for up to $3.2 billion in additional stock, according to an SEC filing cited by Broadband Breakfast. The factories are dedicated to producing optical fiber and connectivity solutions for AI data centers using NVIDIA's accelerated computing platforms.

This flight follows a pattern of Corning aircraft moving between Elmira and the Charlotte area in recent days, including a May 11 round trip. The company's flight department, which maintains seven aircraft at Elmira-Corning Regional, has been active shuttling executives as Corning upgrades its Springboard plan, targeting a $30 billion annualized sales run rate by 2028, per the company's investor day materials.