Charlotte regional recruiters casting wider net for aviation companies

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Sergiy Trofimov

The Charlotte Regional Partnership believes Charlotte Douglas International Airport can be a big factor in attracting aerospace manufacturers and suppliers to the area.

Ken Elkins

Senior Staff Writer- Charlotte Business Journal

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Area economic-development officials are searching for ways to fly the friendly skies of aviation-company recruitment with more success.

Six economic development officials from the region and from the Charlotte Regional Partnership manned a booth and met with potential customers at the National Business Aviation Association Inc. convention in Orlando, Fla., last month.

"Our purpose was to generate a little brand awareness for the Charlotte region," says Josh Hallingse, project director for the regional partnership. He and the others targeted aerospace suppliers and equipment makers that don't already have facilities in the Southeast. They also visited aircraft companies with Charlotte-area operations while they were at the NBAA event.

The key idea is to attract aviation manufacturers and suppliers to the Charlotte area, Hallingse says.

"We're always interested in making a connection with the stakeholders who are making those decisions," he says.

Aerospace companies are already a target industry for the regional partnership. The organization's 2013 survey of aerospace-related companies with operations in the 16-county region found 139 businesses with some type of aerospace or aviation connection.

Hallingse figures Charlotte is an attractive location for such companies. The local work force is growing, the cost of setting up operations here is relatively low and the Charlotte region already has a growing collection of aircraft suppliers and service companies.

Those include the headquarters for UTC Aerospace Systems, Michelin Aircraft Tire Corp., ATI Allvac and Curtiss-Wright Corp. Union County is home to 19 aviation companies and suppliers that employ more than 2,600.

Ken Elkins covers manufacturing, international business and economic development for the Charlotte Business Journal.