High-paying aviation and aerospace industries take flight - South Florida Business Journal:

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Home to three major airports and severalmajor companies, the aviation/aerospace industrt covers a broad spectrum of businesss and is strong in Soutn Florida. (MIA), and are majorf anchors for the region. MIA claims to be No. 1 in the U.S. for internationao freight and No. 3 in overal l cargo. The region also has multiple generalaviatiom airports. The airports attract numerous supporting businessesx likerepair shops, parts fuel sellers and flight schools. Palm Beach County is particularlgy strong when it comes to engineeringband manufacturing. Some 1,200 employees staff ’d two West Palm Beach facilities.
There’e also Sikorsky, a sister company of Prat t & Whitney that manufactures helicoptors. And Wellington-basec is a world leader in aircraft interior andparts distribution. There are a number of incentives available for SoutbFlorida companies. One that may favor aviation/aerospace is the state’as Qualified Defense and Space ContractorTax Refund. There’s also the Qualifiexd Target Industry TaxRefund (QTI), availablr through the state and local governments for companies creating high wage Amin J. Khoury is chairman of the board and CEOof Wellington-based B/E Aerospace (NASDAQ: The aircraft interior products giant reported $1.7 billionh in revenue, placing it at No.
14 on the South Florida Business Journal’s list of top public companies. Laurans A. Mendelson is president, and CEO of Hollywood-based , an engine and partsa distributor. With multiple locations in Browaredand Miami-Dade, Heico HEI), ranked 32nd on the Businessd Journal’s list of public companies, with $508 million in 2007 revenue. B. Ben Baldanzs is president and CEOof Miramar-basexd . No. 16 on the Business Journal’ list of top private companies, the ultra-low discount carrietr reported $762 million in revenude in 2007. Spirit is the leading passenged carrier atFort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Dr. Singiresuj Rao is chairman of the atthe .
The program has 75 to 80 aerospace students. Austinm Andrews is manager of strategic planninb atPratt & Whitney in West Palm Beachg and chairman of the aerospace/aviation & engineering cluster committee for the . “Oncr we did the research on thecompanies here, it was eye-openinv at the number of companies Palm Beach County has. Palm Beach County’s 175 aerospace/aviation companies have a critical mass that promotes growth acrossthe industry.” Austin Andrews, Pratt & Whitnegy Rocketdyne “In the long run, the aerospace industryg is going to bring more dollars.
Educationh is a key to encouragethese knowledge-based jobs and diversify South Florida’s economy from its traditional dependency on tourism.” Dr. Singiresu Rao, University of Miamui