$Aviation/aerospace exports from Arkansas totaled $516,491,135 in 2010.
%Aviation/aerospace exports represented 10 percent of the share of all Arkansas exports in 2010.
2Aviation/aerospace was Arkansas’s second-largest value-added export in 2010, just behind machinery.
>More than 9,000 employees work in the aviation/aerospace industry in Arkansas.
22Arkansas is ranked 22nd among all states in the number of aviation/aerospace exports in 2010 (down from 16th in 2009).
*There are two primary areas of concentration: completion centers and defense contractors.
The Arkansas Aerospace Training Consortium is a collaborative effort among nine community colleges to increase aviation and aerospace course offerings.
Programs include:
- Aviation Maintenance Technician
- Aviation Airframe Maintenance
- Aviation Power Plant Maintenance
- Sheet Metal (Aircraft)
- Aviation Technology
- Airframe/Power Plant
- Aviation Management
- General Aviation Air Frame Maintenance
- Electronics/Avionics Technology
- Computer Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA) design and engineering
GEIn November 2010, GE Aviation and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission partnered to host a supplier symposium to mentor local companies doing business with GE Aviation in 2010.
10Aviation Repair Technologies (ART), an aircraft and component repair company, announced in January 2011 it will expand its facility at the Arkansas Aeroplex in Blytheville. The company will invest more than $10 million and create 300 new jobs.
ARArkansas’s aviation/aerospace industry is diversified throughout the state in several different regions – with each region having slightly different areas of strength and focus.
^The AAA consists of public and private aerospace companies, state and local government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals with a common interest in Arkansas’s aerospace industry.
[]The Alliance is dedicated to growing the infrastructure in Arkansas to recruit, train, and retrain a qualified aerospace workforce and to assist in recruiting, retaining and expanding aerospace companies in Arkansas.
!Arkansas has 19 airports with runways of 6,000 feet or more.
The Aerospace Youth Apprenticeship Program offers high school juniors and seniors opportunities to prepare for a career in aerospace. The rigorous program combines academic and technical instruction with on-the-job training. Youth apprentices are trained at the workplace by skilled mentors and receive wages.