Summit Highlights St. Louis Aero MRO and Manufacturing

At the recent Global Aerospace Summit in O’Fallon, Illinois, a panel session on military aircraft production and business aircraft completions and MRO services featured local leaders from Boeing, Gulfstream Aerospace, and West Star Aviation discussing investments in facilities, technology, and workforce development initiatives in the St. Louis region.

During the “Building and Sustaining the Fleet: OEM, MRO, and Defense Perspectives” session, moderated by Mary Lamie—executive v-p of multimodal enterprises for Bi-State Development, which operates St. Louis Downtown Airport (KCPS)—participants outlined their companies’ regional activities.

Chad Nicklaus, director of St. Louis site integration and manufacturing leader for Boeing’s St. Louis operations, highlighted the activities of the 18,000 Boeing employees in the region, including manufacturing of the F-15EX, F/A-18 Super Hornet, T-7A Red Hawk, MQ-25 Stingray, and ground-based flight-test simulators and weapons systems.

Boeing is investing $1.8 billion to expand F-15EX operations near St. Louis Lambert International Airport (KSTL) and increase production of the fighter from one to two aircraft per month.

At Scott AFB/MidAmerica St. Louis Airport (KBLV), Boeing has invested $200 million in a new MQ-25 aerial refueling drone manufacturing facility. “There’s a great future for the MQ-25 in that facility,” Nicklaus said. “We’re super excited to get that product to the fleet as soon as possible.” 

Gulfstream has invested more than $30 million at KCPS in Cahokia, Illinois, and added more than 200 jobs to expand from MRO to completions of green jets. The facility’s capabilities include interior installations, paint, avionics, cabinetry, carpeting, and flight testing.

“It’s a booming aviation hub, with a very skilled workforce, and we’re continuing to partner with and invest in this community,” said Tony Ray, v-p and general manager of Gulfstream’s St. Louis completions center.

West Star Aviation at St. Louis Regional Airport (KALN) in East Alton, Illinois, employs more than 700 people providing full business aircraft MRO services as well as avionics repair and installation, paint, interior refurbishment, AOG mobile teams, and engine repair.

With 117 aircraft in the company’s 600,000 sq ft of facilities, West Star expected to deliver 40 to 43 aircraft by the end of August, according to director of Bombardier business development Brian Bauwens. West Star is exploring acquisitions to expand engineering and repair capabilities for specialized modification programs and pursuing additional foreign repair station approvals.

“We’re trying to bring more money into the region,” Bauwens said. “We currently have 11 outside or foreign authority certifications where we can work on those airplanes from outside of our states or outside the U.S.”