For months, we've been hearing quiet conversations about Spokane economic development leaders' courtship with Boeing Co., along with varying degrees of optimism that the aerospace giant eventually will build a manufacturing facility on the West Plains.

The day before Greater Spokane Incorporated's recent annual meeting at which Boeing Executive Vice President James Albaugh appeared as the keynote speaker, a contingent from GSI traveled to the West Side to meet with the company about such a prospect.

More than 1,000-plus people showed up at the meeting to hear firsthand from the coveted company. Albaugh, who retires Oct. 1, didn't give any insight hinting that plans to expand east of the Cascade Mountains are imminent. While that might have disappointed some observers who were hoping for more, he cited opportunities and challenges for aerospace that suggest the Inland Northwest business community can supply at least part of what the industry is going to need.

One of the primary challenges, he noted, is that droves of engineers and other experts in the field are reaching retirement age, and too few college graduates are entering the field. The education sector needs to be preparing more people to enter the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields, he contended, so that companies like Boeing don't face an "intellectual disarmament."

This trend transcends aerospace, as many industries worry about a graying workforce. Many positions at Boeing, however, require years of education and levels of expertise that aren't easy to come by. After all, in some cases, it does take a rocket scientist.

Albaugh applauded the creation of Riverpoint Academy, the STEM-focused high school that Mead School District started downtown earlier this month. By this time next year, 150 high school juniors and seniors will be attending the specialized high school. More tech-focused educational efforts like this, he argued, are needed nationwide.

They're needed, he said, because there will be no shortage of challenges for the industry moving forward.

While Boeing has launched its 787—a plane that, Albaugh said, "changed the way people fly and the way the company builds airplanes"—the U.S. Department of Defense doesn't have any new, manned aircraft in research and development. This hasn't been the case, he said, since 1905.

A significant lapse in R&D would cause that sector to lose momentum that would be hard to get back. Boeing learned that lesson the hard way. It had a lapse in development before the creation of the 787, he said, and "we paid the price."

The aerospace industry is facing challenges on the environmental front as well. About 2 percent of carbon emissions worldwide are generated by commercial aviation, he said, and the industry goal is to be carbon neutral by 2020. There are a few ways that can happen, but the key is for the industry to stay ahead of regulators on the emissions issue.

There are other challenges: global competition and a deteriorating U.S. space program, to name two.

Challenges, however, are what make aerospace careers interesting for those in that field. "I think we can capture the imagination of the younger generation," Albaugh said.

Opportunities in the aerospace industry certainly have captured the imagination of the business community in Spokane, and while Boeing is the name bandied about the most, at least two other aerospace manufacturers reportedly have some level of interest in setting up shop in the Spokane area.

Eighty aerospace-related companies with more than 8,000 employees currently operate in the Inland Northwest, with many of those companies making components and parts for Boeing airplanes. Whether Boeing decides to strengthen its bond with the Spokane business community remains to be seen. Regardless, the community's economic development leaders appear ready to be involved in the opportunities and challenges the industry faces.