Newsroom

The Aerospace Alliance – 2022 In Review

As we enter this new year, we want to look back and celebrate some of the exciting aviation and aerospace industry accomplishments from 2022. The Aerospace Alliance states have drawn some of the world’s most recognizable names in the industry and continue to expand and make innovations in aviation, aerospace and space exploration.

Airbus announced plans to add a third assembly line to increase aircraft production at its Alabama manufacturing center, creating 1,000 jobs in Mobile. Investment in the project is over $800 million.

Lockheed Martin announced plans to invest $16.5 million to open a new facility focusing on missile defense on its campus in Huntsville, another milestone marking the defense contractor’s growing footprint in Alabama.

The new and improved Pilot-Training Program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has been successful in saving flight students time and money to complete the program, bolstering the regional talent pipeline to meet growing workforce demands.

The Northwest Florida region is home to 9 airports with at least 5,000 ft. runways, for commercial aviation travel. This airport list got a little longer with the recent announcement that the DeFuniak Springs Municipal Airport will be expanding its runway to 5,000 ft., and developing a new terminal to accommodate the increased air travel.

Aviation Exteriors Louisiana, which has long specialized in the painting of commercial aircraft, will add aircraft maintenance and conversion services with an expansion at its Iberia Parish facility, creating 100 new direct jobs.

Louisiana’s Michoud Assembly Facility played a major role in the historic Artemis launch this past September with the construction of the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket, the most powerful rocket in the world.

U.S.-based Rocket Lab is locating an engine test facility for its new large rocket, Neutron, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, making a significant capital investment and creating dozens of new jobs.

NASA began a new series of hot fire testing at Stennis Space Center to support production of future RS-25 engines to help power the Space Launch System rocket on Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.

It was a historical year for the Alliance region as well as the nation as NASA launched the Artemis I rocket, the first of our country’s deep-space exploration flights leading up to a return to the moon. The launch successfully took place on November 16th. All four Alliance states play a significant important role in the Artemis Program.

“The road to America’s return to the moon begins in the Gulf Coast! With design, development, assembly, testing, and launching of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft taking place in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, thousands of engineers and technicians in these states were responsible for the successful Artemis I launch.By working together, the states of the Aerospace Alliance are making history as America’s core for aerospace innovation. Our region will continue creating the future of spaceflight that will thrust forward the next generation of deep space exploration.”