The Legislature is overlooking a key element in its drive to lure major aerospace players to Louisiana, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser says in the latest episode of the “LaPolitics Report” podcast.
Nungesser says there needs to be more of a focus on the workforce here, and he learned as much by being heavily involved in the Aerospace States Association, serving both as its chair and hosting its 2025 conference in New Orleans.
“As I visited with my other lieutenant governors, like in Alabama, to learn why they’re so successful, it’s the workforce,” he says. “They train kids in high school how to weld on spaceships. It’s a special technique.”
Nunez Community College in Chalmette is uniquely positioned, Nungesser adds, and is seeking $9 million from the Legislature to outfit a donated building to train young people for similar roles.
“Im glad to see the Legislature and [Gov. Jeff Landry] and [Louisiana Economic Development Secretary] Susan Bourgeois passing legislation to make it attractive,” he said on the podcast. “But we better get serious about the workforce.
In an effort to lure projects or programs connected to outfits like SpaceX and Blue Origin, the governor and Legislature are pushing a set of tax breaks to incentivize aerospace companies to come to Louisiana.
While there are no specific businesses being targeted at this hour, the legislative proposal would provide sales tax rebates to aerospace corporations willing to invest $1 billion in Louisiana while creating at least 200 jobs.
Julie Emerson, Landry’s chief of staff, testified before lawmakers this month to communicate the administration’s priorities and eye to the future.
“Louisiana is trying to remain competitive with neighboring states and provide a welcoming environment to a new industry that is increasingly growing, and we would like for it to grow its footprint here,” Emerson told the House Ways and Means Committee before it approved the legislative package.
During the same hearing, Bourgeois noted “Louisiana has a long history in aerospace and defense.”
Nearly 90% of the rocket powering for the recent NASA Artemis II mission was manufactured at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
For more than six decades, Michoud has been a cornerstone of America’s space program, supporting missions from Apollo to the space shuttle to the recent Artemis program.
“That history has built a skilled workforce, strong supplier networks and advanced manufacturing capabilities across the state,” Bourgeois says. “Artemis II reflects that foundation—and signals the opportunity ahead as Louisiana continues to grow its aerospace economy.”
There are also signs from other corners of private business, like Textron Systems, a leading defense contractor specializing in advanced military systems, marine craft and aerospace technologies.
With the goal of supporting critical U.S. defense programs, Textron announced last week a $5.8 million, multisite investment in St. Tammany and Orleans parishes to expand manufacturing and engineering operations.
Three of the company’s facilities will see part of the investment, with Textron expected to create 133 direct new jobs while retaining 761 current positions.
As for aerospace in general, Nungesser says the possibilities are vast.
For example, there are a handful of initiatives underway that want to utilize microgravity to bioprint, assemble and cultivate human cells in space, which offers more efficiencies than doing the same on earth.
“If you need a new heart, they’re going to take your tissue and go to space and make these body parts,” the lieutenant governor says. “And all that technology is there.”
The aerospace industry is even growing at such a rate that it may become a fixture of conversation inside Nungesser’s own tourism department one day.
“In our lifetime, you’re going to go to space for tourism and come home,” he says. “You’re going to take off from a space port and go anywhere in the world in two hours. No more international flights.”
