Task force prepares for billions in aviation investments

ST. LOUIS – A new collaboration will help prepare the St. Louis region for billions of dollars in economic activity for the area.

Young hands tinker with cardboard in a Lindbergh High School aviation class as students try to build their own airplanes. Principal Eric Cochran joined the new aerospace and aviation taskforce, hoping these kids’ get a leg up on a new career.

“We have a lot of other students who want to get directly into some fields that are really a hot job market, so anything we can do to collaborate and learn from different fields, we’re going to do so,” Cochran said.

The St. Louis Regional Freightway announced the taskforce’s creation, connecting five airports in the area and large companies with classrooms.

“We also are considered the top 20 metros for aerospace manufacturing, and that’s because we’ve got this great infrastructure—over 300,000 employees working on both sides of the river,” Executive VP of Multimodal Enterprises with Bi-State Development Mary Lamie said.

St. Louis Regional Freightway says the airports and their tenants already employ more than 36,000 people and generate $10 billion in economic impact. More growth is still expected.

St. Louis Lambert International Airport is investing $2.8 billion for its new single-terminal project. Boeing is investing another $1.8 billion at its facilities at Lambert and another $200 million on a production facility at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport.

“We have well over a thousand jobs that we’re going to need to fill over the next 10 years, and really what we’re trying to do is build a connection between the employers and the prospective employees,” Lamie said.

Ranked as one of the best colleges for aviation, Saint Louis University is also involved with the taskforce. It is excited to build upon its relationship with the area’s major employers in aviation.

“It is very helpful for our students when they have easy access, field trips, internships, things like that, that all come into play for our students. That’s beneficial for our students but also for the employers,” SLU professor Stephen Magoc said.

To learn more about the task force and who is on it, click here .

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