Ohio's 'aerospace attractiveness' up
Report: Tax structure, industry presence, economy rank it No. 2.
Ohio ranks second among the states for “aerospace attractiveness,” according to a report released Tuesday by an international business consulting fifirm.
That’s an improved placement compared to last year’s ranking, with the report pointing to Ohio’s strengths as an investment destination“largelydue to its attractive corporate tax structure; healthy economy; and strong industry presence,” said the report from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“This year, Ohio rankedNo. 1 in the tax policy category, up from eight last year,” according to the report. “The state has no corporate income tax, but does levy business taxes on gross receipts. Ohio is also the largest U.S. state supplier to Boeing and Airbus.”
Ohio ranked eighth in “aerospace attractiveness,” in 2019.
“This report reinforces the strength and validity of our
message that Ohio and Dayton are ideal locations for aviation and defense companies,” said Elaine Bryant, executive vice president of aerospace for the Dayton Development Coalition. “We’re encouraged the report mentions urban air mobilityandautonomous aviation systems, which is an area the (coalition) and Ohio have nurtured for a decade.”
Bryant also noted that some of the biggest names in aerospace call Ohio home — GE, Boeing and Battelle, as well as federal leaders in aerospace development, such as the Air Force Research Laboratory (based atWright-Patterson AirForce Base) and NASA.
Thereport stands asPwC’s annual look at the aerospace industry, ranking states by labor and business costs, infrastructure, economy, tax environment and other factors.
According to a pre-pandemic JobsOhio report last year, Ohio had 38,000 employees working for the private aerospace industry, with 540-plus aviation and aerospace firms.
Ohio wants to strengthen its standing. Elected officials across the state have supported the Dayton region’s self-nomination to host the headquarters of U.S. Space Command, now based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.
COVID-19, however, has dramatically alteredthe aerospace landscape. GE Aviation, for example, cut more than 5,000 jobs in the second quarter this year, as the pandemic stopped flights and idled planes.
Some of the report’s sources and metrics date back to 2019 or early 2020 at the latest.
The underlying data is from2019, saidCareyBodenheimer, a director of external communication at PwC.
“COVID-19 has caused a dramatic contraction in the industry. But the industry will recover,” she said. “The contraction has caused companies to reassess their supply chains. They need to consider where to concentrate production for lower volumes and de-risk the supply chain.”
However the industry took decades to ramp up and it needs to preserve both capability and capacity to ramp backupinthree to five years, which Bodenheimer called the “expected period of recovery.”