Georgia is home to more than 500 firms that comprise a diverse and thriving aerospace sector: original equipment manufacturers (OEM); maintenance, repair and overhaul companies (MRO); and global aircraft fleet operations.  More than 80,000 Georgians are employed in this high-tech, high-wage industry ranking the state fifth in the U.S. for aerospace industry employment. Georgia’s total aerospace exports worldwide topped $4.3 billion in 2010, ranking the state fourth highest in the nation in this sector, exceeding the exports of major aerospace countries such as Brazil, Spain, Japan, Russia, and China.

Industry Leading Companies

Boeing, Gulfstream, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, Thrush and Triumph Aerostructures are just a few of the OEMs with major manufacturing operations in Georgia.  TIMCO Aviation Services, StandardAero, and the U.S. Air Force have major MRO operations in the state.  Click here to search a database of aerospace-related companies located in Georgia (just check the box "Aerospace" under Categories and hit "Go").  You can also view a list in the Georgia Aerospace Industry Overview.

Air Transportation Leader

Georgia is the home of the world’s busiest passenger airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, winner of the 2009 and 2010 Air Cargo Week World Air Cargo Award.  The Atlanta area is home to the headquarters of Delta Air Lines, a major international airline; Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a leading U.S. regional carrier; World Airways, a major international passenger and cargo charter airline; and the main hub and maintenance base for AirTran Airways, a leading U.S. airline and now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines. 

leader in Aerospace education

Georgia is home to the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the #2 ranked undergraduate and #4 ranked graduate aerospace engineering program in the nation. Middle Georgia College Aviation School offers programs in Flight, Airport Management, Air Traffic Control, Avionics, Aircraft Structural Technology, and Aviation Maintenance Technology. Georgia’s Technical College System has FAA certified programs throughout the state including sites at Atlanta, Central Georgia, Georgia Northwestern, Middle Georgia, Savannah, and South Georgia. Other top ranked programs include aviation curriculum offered in Georgia high schools.

Experienced & Productive Workforce

Companies looking for a diverse and highly-skilled talent pool will find what they need in Georgia.  More than 80,000 Georgians are employed in the aerospace industry, which ranks fifth in the U.S. for aerospace industry employment.  Georgia boasts one of the highest value-added output per employee in the U.S. aerospace industry. 

Contributing to the productivity of Georgia's aerospace workforce is the training that is available through the Technical College System of Georgia, and Georgia Quick Start.  Quick Start is Georgia’s internationally acclaimed provider of strategic workforce training solutions free-of-charge as an economic development incentive for qualified new, expanding and existing companies.  Quick Start’s workforce training is customized to a company’s exact requirements, and is delivered wherever and whenever needed to support a company’s business success.

Leading aerospace research center

The aerospace industry in Georgia leverages the latest R&D in science and engineering fields.  Georgia’s universities and colleges annually spend over $419 million in overall engineering R&D with over $56 million in aerospace engineering R&D in FY09.  Georgia Tech ranks #2 in the U.S. in terms of the volume of aerospace R&D expenditures, with more than $49 million in FY09. (National Science Foundation)

Georgia Tech faculty members in the School of Aerospace Engineering are engaged in a wide variety of research topics, ranging from highly theoretical work to applied projects. Currently, active research programs include diversified and multidisciplinary projects in fluid mechanics, structures, aero-elasticity, controls, combustion & propulsion, design & optimization, air transportation system planning and other “system of systems” design architectures.

Since 2007, Georgia enjoys a close technology and industrial base development partnership with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, one of three USAF Air Logistics Centers in the United States. Georgia companies and researchers are responsible for over $5 billion in contract actions to sustain and repair aircraft such as C-130, C-17, C-5, F-15, and the USAF’s sustaining engineering center of excellence for ISR capabilities such as the U-2, Global Hawk, and Predator. They also work in collaboration with USAF engineers on technology insertion programs to support the missions of Robins Air Force Base, the largest single industrial complex in Georgia. Robins AFB employs over 23,000 military, civilian and contractor personnel and is a global magnet for aerospace and defense logistics companies.

leveraging aerospace innovation

Georgia’s nationally-recognized Center of Innovation for Aerospace (COI) is the state’s one-stop-shop for aerospace solutions to industry needs. Staffed by experts with more than 65 years of combined industry experience, and supported by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the COI-Aerospace tackles opportunities large and small, from assisting with federal contracts to prototype manufacturing of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

 Recent successes in Georgia's Aerospace industry

contact

To learn more about your Aerospace company can take off and thrive in Georgia, please contact Emily Moore at 404-962-4022 or emoore@georgia.org.

Take an in-depth look behind Georgia's aviation history and watch Georgia: The State of Aviation - 100 Years, 1907 -2007 (Courtesy: Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame and Broadcast Solutions.)

recent georgia aerospace INDUSTRY NEWS:

• 11/13/11 Gulfstream Sees New Activity Post-Arab Spring (Aviation Week)

• 11/4/11 Belgium Consul Seeks to Bring Solar Plane to Georgia (GlobalAtlanta)

• 11/3/11 Chamber update: Gulfstream soaring (Savannah Morning News)

• 10/31/11 Airport Launches International Terminal Website (GlobalAtlanta)

• 10/26/11 Houston County High senior has an astronomical NASA experience (Macon Telegraph)

Georgia Aerospace Industry VIDEOs:

Virtual Tour of Atlanta's New International Terminal (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport)

Georgia: The State of Aviation - 100 Years, 1907 -2007 (Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame and Broadcast Solutions)

Georgia-built F-22 Flight Demo at 2010 Farnborough Airshow (Lockheed Martin)

A C-130J Is Born at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta, Georgia Production Facility (Lockheed Martin)

Georgia-built C-130 at the 2011 Paris Air Show (Lockheed Martin)

Georgia-built G450 Elite Interiors at NBAA 2011 (Gulfstream Aerospace)

"Gotta Jet" - Video promoting aerospace careers to Georgia high school students (Georgia Work Ready)