Story ID: 
Mexico Targets U.S. Manufacturing Market
By: David A. Lombardo
Caption: Mexico seeks to expand its participation in the aerospace manufacturing sector, and has ambitions of becoming a world aerospace hub.
Word Count: 288
Mexico seeks to expand its participation in the aerospace manufacturing sector, and has ambitions of becoming a world aerospace hub. That was the principal topic of the Second Annual Baja California International Aerospace Supplier Forum, a business-to-business exhibition and networking event held last month.
Flavio Diaz Miron, chairman of the nonprofit Mexican Federation of Aerospace Industries (Femia), asserts Mexico is in position to become a world aerospace manufacturing hub. Femia members include such heavyweights as Bombardier Aerospace Mexico, Honeywell Aerospace Mexico, EADS and Goodrich Aerospace Mexico.
According to the report, Mexico has the second largest fleet of private aircraft in the world after the U.S., is the 10th largest supplier to the U.S. market, and has become one of the largest recipients of aerospace foreign direct investments over the past two years.
Femia forecasts “exports of aerospace parts will grow by 12 percent to $3.5 billion in 2011 from $3.1 billion in 2010, and are expected to increase further to $7.5 billion in 2015. Direct jobs are expected to grow by 28 percent in 2015, from 29,000 in 2010 to 37,000 in 2015” and “the number of aerospace manufacturing companies operating in Mexico is expected to increase from 232 in 2010 to more than 350 in 2015.” 
Diaz Miron told the group the next key step in advancing Mexico into a full airplane assembly hub is to “approve the plans for final assembling of products in Mexico and the government’s support to provide a legal framework to offer internationally recognized certifications.”
Cost efficiencies; accessibility to raw materials for production; economic, social, and political stability; and a highly educated population with engineering and technical skills are the primary benefits Mexico offers international investors, according to Diaz Miron.