Corning returns to Elmira after a week of AI factory announcements

Corning flew from Brammer Seaplane Base near Charlotte, North Carolina to Elmira-Corning Regional Airport on June 22, 2026, a 49-minute hop aboard Falcon 900 N38CG.

The same week, Corning and NVIDIA announced a multiyear partnership to build three new advanced manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas, per a joint press release on May 6, 2026 [corning.com](https://www.corning.com/worldwide/en/about-us/news-events/news-releases/2026/05/nvidia-and-corning-announce-long-term-partnership-to-strengthen-us-manufacturing-for-ai-infrastructure.html). The Charlotte-area departure points to a site visit for the North Carolina expansions, which will increase Corning’s U.S. optical connectivity capacity tenfold and create more than 3,000 jobs.

Corning has shuttled between upstate New York and Charlotte multiple times in recent days, including a June 22 round trip to Charlotte Douglas. The company maintains seven aircraft at Elmira-Corning Regional, an unusually large fleet for a firm its size. CEO Wendell Weeks and his executive team are likely using these trips to oversee the largest manufacturing ramp in Corning’s history—one that will supply fiber for AI data centers from Amazon and Meta as well [lightreading.com](https://www.lightreading.com/data-centers/amazon-corning-fiber-deal-keys-on-density-scaled-customization-for-data-centers).