Corning returns to Elmira after Charlotte meetings on NVIDIA partnership

Corning flew from Charlotte Douglas International Airport to Elmira Corning Regional Airport on May 15, 2026, a 1-hour-45-minute hop in its Falcon 900, tail N38CG. The flight arrived at 6:49 p.m. local time, closing out a day that began with a morning departure from Elmira to Charlotte.

The trip comes the same week Corning and NVIDIA announced a sweeping long-term partnership to expand U.S. manufacturing of optical connectivity for AI data centers, per a company news release on May 6. The deal includes three new plants in North Carolina and Texas and more than 3,000 new jobs, as reported by FingerLakes1.com. CEO Wendell Weeks had just wrapped a CNBC interview on May 7 and an investor event at the New York Stock Exchange, making Charlotte a logical stop for site visits or follow-up meetings with state officials.

Recent flight logs show Corning has been shuttling between Elmira and Charlotte repeatedly since May 14, suggesting the company is deep in execution mode on the expansion. For a firm with seven aircraft and a home base in upstate New York, these short hops to the Carolinas are becoming routine—this time with a $40 billion growth plan in the cargo hold.