(Photo by Annika Cline - KJZZ)

The new maintenance center at Able Aerospace in Mesa allows the company to work on entire helicopters.

(Screen capture from the PricewaterhouseCoopers report)

Arizona was ranked number one in the U.S. for aerospace manufacturing attractiveness.

You could say the aerospace industry has taken off in Arizona. In fact, you could say it’s soaring. A new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers puts Arizona at number one in the U.S. for aerospace manufacturing attractiveness.

Basically, the state looks good to aerospace and defense companies, like Able Aerospace in Mesa.

CEO Lee Benson said there were three employees when he bought the company in 1993.

Now?

He said there are more than 500. The company started worked on individual parts. A maintenance center opened this month means it can work on entire helicopters.

"We could be as high as eight to 900 employees organically over the next four or five years," Benson said.

Benson said they’ve always been in Arizona, but about six years ago he was being recruited  to move his company to another state.

"At the time Mayor Smith said we’ll work with you, and they actually built us a facility here where they used their cash, tax exempt bonds to build it, and we’re fully paying it all back through the lease payment with the airport and the city of Mesa," Benson said.

Benson said he's glad he stayed, and he points to the low cost of living and availability of qualified employees as a couple reasons why he did.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers survey gives Arizona high marks for its tax structure and operating expenses, relative to other states. And, aerospace is one of the industries state officials have been trying to expand in Arizona. Sandra Watson is the president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority, which is a big part of that effort and joined The Show to talk about it.