A worldwide manufacturer and distributor of Dornier aircraft is moving a maintenance division from Texas to the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.

AvCraft Aviation LLC of Leesburg, Va., could add more than 280 jobs in the next decade, state and local authorities said Monday.

The positions will pay an average of $20 to $35 per hour, said Liz Gilland, chairwoman of Horry County Council.

“We’ve traditionally relied on low-wage tourism jobs,” Gilland said Monday. “Now we’re really beginning to focus on economic diversification and higher wages.”

Starting this month, AvCraft will move its Tyler, Texas-based division that maintains and completes Dornier and other jet aircraft for East Coast clients. The facility will handle exterior painting and other refurbishments that such jets require, said Scott Nordstrom, Avcraft vice president for corporate aircraft sales.

AvCraft chose Myrtle Beach over offers from five other states, said AvCraft CEO Ben Bartel, after seven weeks of talks with regional authorities.

It will set up shop in three hangars and has an option for a fourth at the former Air Force base, which closed for good in 1993.

“We’ll be setting up a full-scale maintenance and completion site for the entire East Coast in Myrtle Beach,” said Nordstorm.

The company will lease the hangars and surrounding property from the Myrtle Beach International Airport.

The company neither sought nor received tax-based financial incentives, said Gilland. Instead, the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Development Authority, and the public/private PARTNERS Economic Development Corp. will provide $800,000 to renovate the facility.

Also involved were the S.C. Department of Commerce and Gov. Mark Sanford.

AvCraft recently bought the assets of the Dornier 328 and 428 regional jet aircraft, and 18 Dornier 328 jets, from the former Fairchild-Dornier GmbH in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.

Bartel said AvCraft lacked the completion facilities to provide full service for the Dornier fleet, adding that the former base would fit its future needs “quite well.”

Reach L’Heureux at (803) 771-8463 or dlheureux@thestate.com