ST. LOUIS — Private jet companies are investing big in the St. Louis region.
Jet-maker Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, in May finished a $28.5 million investment in its facility at the St. Louis Downtown Airport in the Metro East.
And at East Alton’s St. Louis Regional Airport, aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul provider West Star Aviation opened a new 76,000 square feet hangar last year, adding “state-of-the-art” equipment in what the company said was a $20 million investment.
Both companies said they have added or are adding scores of jobs.
The aerospace industry in St. Louis has collectively announced over $5 billion in recent investments, including the planned $2.8 billion terminal expansion at Lambert St. Louis International Airport and the Boeing Co.’s $1.8 billion project, poised to be a key part of the company’s new F-47 fighter jet program.
As of 2023, over 17,000 employees worked for 49 St. Louis-area aerospace manufacturing businesses, according to Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners, a St. Louis-based consulting firm.
And business and executive aviation, specifically — which Gulfstream and West Star specialize in — is a growth area, said Michael Boyd, chairman of Colorado aviation consulting firm Boyd Group International.
“You seem to have the facilities to make it work,” Boyd said of the region.
A Gulfstream Aerospace hangar is seen on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2025, at St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia Heights. The company has a large footprint at the airport.
Private travel offers benefits over using standard commercial airlines, he said, including better connectivity.
“Executives need to get around,” Boyd said. “It’s a transportation system that we mere mortals don’t really understand, but it’s one that is a key part of most corporations.”
At the downtown St. Louis airport, Gulfstream workers put the finishing touches on new aircraft built in Savannah. Gulfstream also upgrades existing aircraft at its maintenance, repair and overhaul facility here.
“Gulfstream continues its investment in this region. And why? Well, it’s simple: St. Louis is a booming aviation hub,” Anthony Ray, vice president of St. Louis completions for Gulfstream, said at a Global Aerospace Summit held in the Metro East last month.
“The expansion and growth continues in the region,” he said. Gulfstream’s downtown St. Louis airport site has over 700 employees, he said. “We always have new employees starting every Monday.”
Gulfstream could receive tax credits next year from Illinois for its investment.
Gulfstream and West Star, which is headquartered in East Alton and employs almost 700 people there, both have also actively tried to cultivate a pipeline of new talent.
West Star has created the West Star Aviation Academy in partnership with the Aviation Technician Education Council, Madison County Workforce Innovation Board and Southwestern Illinois College.
Ray Sharp, director of maintenance at West Star in East Alton, said last month the academy is in its third cohort, with 25 new students. He said 400 applied for the seven-and-a-half-month-long apprenticeship program.
“There’s a pretty rigorous selection process,” Sharp said.
West Star said, when it announced the opening of the new hangar in East Alton, that it expected to create 60-80 new jobs there.
Ray, of Gulfstream, said one of the things that attracted the company to the region — Gulfstream opened its downtown airport facility in 2017 — was the workforce.
“It is skilled, and it is capable and they are passionate about building airplanes,” Ray said.
Ray said Gulfstream partners with Cahokia and East St. Louis high schools for an apprenticeship program in which students work several hours their senior year, earn a wage, and are offered full-time jobs upon graduation.
Ray said Gulfstream is hiring in avionics, cabinet-makers and upholstery specialists, pointing to Gulfstream’s new models, the G700 and G800.
“The G700, G800 — more avionics, more electrical, more intense than ever before,” Ray said. “And also, if you look at the aircraft that have been delivered 15, 20, 25 years ago, those customers are coming in. What are they wanting? They’re wanting the latest and greatest electronics.”
Ray also said Gulfstream would pay full tuition assistance for full-time employees who want to become pilots.
“If a college or a university wants to come and visit our facility,” Ray said, “there is nothing more important than seeing their eyes explode when they walk into a hangar and they see an airplane being built.”
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