QUERÉTARO, Qro (09/26/2013) - The second edition of Mexico's Aerospace Summit 2013 kicked off this Thursday in this state, where one out of five companies in the aerospace sector are located, which contributes 4.5% of the state's GDP.
The growth trend in the sector will continue in the coming years in the state, which could become one of the most important players worldwide in aircraft maintenance, said the Governor of the State, Jose Calzada Rovirosa, when participating in the start of activities of the second edition of Mexico's Aerospace Summit 2013.
As a protagonist of the growth of the aerospace industry in the state, the governor highlighted Bombardier, a company that "started with a very large growth perspective and whose investments in Querétaro today total 500 million dollars, hiring more than 1,800 people who work directly in its plants".
He pointed out that all Bombardier airplanes assembled in the world have components from Queretaro and also mentioned General Electric (GE), a company that hires more than 1,500 young engineers from Queretaro.
He pointed out that activities that were previously destined in the minds of aerospace executives to be carried out in India, in Germany because of the quality of its engineers, or in the United States, are now being done in Queretaro. "The turbines of the airplanes that move the world are designed here. We have young people who are just as capable and competitive in the industry as in other countries. We not only contribute with manufacturing, we contribute with ideas, with creativity, with the design of components for the aeronautical sector," he said.
Sergio Ornelas Ramírez, editor of MexicoNow, said that the objective of the event is to strengthen Mexico's aerospace industry supply chains. Ornelas also indicated that this second edition of Mexico's Aerospace Summit in Querétaro registered a 30% increase in the number of participants compared to last year, reaching 900 executives in attendance.
Vladimiro de la Mora, president of the Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry (FEMIA), emphasized the growth of the aerospace industry worldwide in recent years, mainly due to the need for more efficient, lighter aircraft at lower acquisition and operating costs. "Industry growth has been above 4% in recent years. On the commercial side, aircraft production is expected to exceed 1,000 units by the end of this year 2013, which would mean that for the third consecutive year this production is exceeded."
He said that the Mexican aerospace industry has played a very important role, with an annual growth of close to 20% since 2004.
Mexico currently has 287 companies in the sector, generating exports of 5.4 billion dollars and more than 32 thousand jobs in the country, with Queretaro, along with Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Jalisco and Nuevo Leon being the states that promote growth.
Vladimiro de la Mora referred to the goals listed in the Aerospace Industry Strategic Program (Pro-Aerospace 2012-2020) that can be read on the FEMIA website:
By 2020 to reach $12 billion in exports and generate more than 100,000 jobs for the country, and most importantly, to raise the national content from the current 9% to more than 40% by 2020 in the manufacturing done by the industry, developing the Tiers 2 and Tiers 3 that the aerospace sector requires.
The inauguration of Mexico's Aerospace Summit 2013 was attended by Sergio Ornelas Ramírez, editor of MexicoNow Magazine (the company organizing the Summit); Vladimiro de la Mora, president of the Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry (FEMIA) and CEO of GE; Marcelo Sánchez López, Secretary of Sustainable Development of the State of Querétaro; Joëlle Cournoyer, Vice President of Operations of Bombardier Aerospace; Jorge Gutiérrez De Velázquez Rodríguez, Rector of the Aeronautical University of Querétaro; and Miguel Ángel Uribe, CEO of Aeroméxico MRO.
Photo: mexican business web