Not Even at Cruising Altitude
Posted on December 16, 2024 by Marketing and Communications
THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA’S new aerospace engineering major, debuting with the fall 2024 semester, reflects Mobile’s emergence as one of the country’s major aerospace manufacturing hubs.
Among manufacturing industries in Mobile County, aerospace is second in employment only to ship and boat building. Across Mobile Bay in Baldwin County, it’s No. 1.
Mobile’s aerospace industry dates back to the 1890s, when a watch, clock and sewing machine repairman named John Fowler built a series of gliders and, without successful flights, powered aircraft.
Today, “In Mobile and Baldwin counties, we have about 40 aerospace engineering companies,” says Dr. Anh-Vu Phan, professor and interim chair of South’s William B. Burnsed Jr. Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering.
Airbus, one of the world’s two dominant makers of large commercial aircraft along with Boeing, supercharged the area’s ascension as an aerospace hub when the company selected Mobile for its U.S. airliner manufacturing facility in 2005.
Airbus operates two final commercial aircraft assembly lines at Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, a former Air Force base south of downtown Mobile. It employs 2,400 people in the Mobile area and expects to hire more when it opens a third assembly line next year.
The first Airbus airliner left the factory in 2016. In August 2024, the facility delivered its 500th.
One of America’s oldest aerospace companies also manufactures at Brookley: Continental Aerospace Technologies, formerly Continental Motors, founded in 1929. It makes engines for light aircraft, and services them across the bay in Fairhope, Alabama.
Now more than ever, Alabama is an aerospace leader, with more than 300 companies across 30 counties. The state leads the nation, by far, in its concentration of aerospace engineers compared to other types of workers. Of every 1,000 jobs in the state, 2.41 are aerospace engineering jobs. Washington and Kansas are second and third at 1.55 and 1.52, respectively.
That information comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Across the United States, the bureau expects the demand for aerospace engineers to grow by 6% from 2023 through 2033 — with an average of 4,200 job openings each year.
South’s first Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering majors will graduate in May 2028. Phan says the department is quickly ramping up support for the new major, with a second aerospace engineering professor starting in January and two more by 2027.
Airbus has supported the University and the department. Since 2012, it has given South nearly $315,000, with $4 of every $5 going to engineering scholarships.
“Airbus is a European company, and we’re bringing in tons of people from overseas and creating a bunch of jobs,” says Dr. Carlos Montalvo, an associate professor with a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering. “So many of my former students work at Airbus right now. Where would they be living if it wasn’t for Airbus? A lot of graduates want to stay in Mobile.”
Montalvo, a native of Pensacola, Florida, loves where the Gulf Coast region is moving.
“Airbus adding the new final assembly line is already going in a good direction,” he says. “You add our aerospace engineering major into this, and it’s another cog in this huge machine. It’s just one more thing that can make Mobile a great place to live.”
AEROSPACE ENGINEERS BY STATE
| California | 11,130 |
| Texas | 6,250 |
| Washington | 5,430 |
| Alabama | 4,950 |
| Colorado | 3,760 |