Orange County defense and aerospace contractors continued to benefit from a rebound in air travel and U.S. military spending.
The 25 largest aerospace and defense players in OC boosted local employment by 5% in the past year to 25,195 workers, according to this week’s Business Journal ranking. The list includes estimates for six companies.
This year’s gain is nearly the same as last year’s 6% rise. In 2002, the first year of the survey, companies lost 8% of their workers amid the aerospace downturn.
Just three of the top 25 on this year’s list failed to increase or hold employee numbers.
Defense spending continued to be strong, with the war in Iraq in its third year and the military continuing to upgrade its machinery, weapons and technology systems.
Total military aircraft orders jumped 15% last year to $46 billion. On the commercial side, Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS outlined increasing orders at the June Paris Air Show.
The list heavyweight is Boeing, which has sites throughout OC. Boeing employs nearly the same number of workers as all the other defense contractors combined.
It increased its worker count by 2% to 12,181 in the past year. That’s in line with Boeing’s companywide employment gain.
Many of the new local workers are in Huntington Beach where the technology hub for a $21 billion Army program opened early this year, spokeswoman Dianna Ramirez said. New hires also came from another Boeing Huntington Beach operation: Space & Intelligence Systems.
Buyouts have picked up in the defense and aerospace industry. OC is no exception.
In fact, with several acquisitions wrapped up or pending, just one locally based contractor is set to remain among the biggest here,No. 8 Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc.
In spring French aerospace company Zodiac SA said it plans to buy No. 5 Huntington Beach-based C & D; Aerospace Group for $600 million. That deal could close as early as this month.
In March, Portland, Ore.-based Precision Castparts Corp. said it would pay $194 million to buy No. 10 Garden Grove-based Air Industries Corp.
And Bellevue, Wash.-based Esterline Technologies Corp., which makes commercial and military electronics, displays, sensors and other products, recently bought a couple of companies.
Last year, Esterline, which already owned Brea-based Kirkhill-TA Co., paid $145 million for Buena Park’s Leach International Corp. Then about a month ago, Esterline said it bought Palomar Products Inc., a Rancho Santa Margarita company that makes military communication products.
“We had good organic growth,” said Steve Barton, chief executive of Esterline’s Kirkhill-TA. “The commercial aviation sector has improved after a big downturn after 9/11.”
Kirkhill supplies the gauges and switches for cockpits among other things. The company boosted employment from 520 to 700.
Kirkhill provided most of the growth for parent company Esterline Technologies, No. 4 on the list, which had 1,265 local workers. Overall, it grew by 22% last year.
Others feeding off the growth in commercial aerospace included the companies that make fasteners, such as lock nuts, that keep planes together.
One such company,Air Industries,increased employment 18% to about 530.
“The reason we’ve been growing is because of our new Boeing contracts,” said Bob Reece, president of Air Industries.
Pittsburgh-based Alcoa Fastening Systems Inc. boosted its staff by 9% to 975 workers in Fullerton. It’s No. 6 on the list. And No. 12 Providence R.I.-based Textron Fastening Systems increased 23% to 370 workers at its Santa Ana facility.
Fast-growing Ceradyne posted the biggest percentage gain of any company on the list. In the past year, its OC operations have grown 30% to 814.
Companywide, Ceradyne more than doubled employee rolls. Some of that increase came from last year’s buy of ESK Ceramics, a unit of Germany’s Wacker-Chemie GMBH.
The war in Iraq and military efforts in Afghanistan continued to buoy Ceradyne, which makes body armor for soldiers.
“The government has changed the specifications, and we’re one of the few companies in that industry that can meet the new requirements,” said Joel Moskowitz, Ceradyne’s chief executive.
Parker Aerospace, part of Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin Corp., kept its No. 2 position with a 4% gain in local workers to 1,825.
Parker’s Irvine operations got some lift from the rebound in commercial aviation with projects for new Airbus and Boeing jets. It also benefited from military projects for the Joint Strike Fighter and others, said spokeswoman Cheryl Flohr.
The biggest decliner was No. 15 Irvin Aerospace, a military parachute maker that is part of Britain’s Air-Sea Survival Equipment Ltd.
Irvin’s Santa Ana operation saw a 28% drop in employment to 250 workers. The company was hurt by a shift in military strategy in Iraq from air attacks to a more ground-oriented approach. Company officials said a recent contract win should spur future growth.
