116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
The Eastern Iowa Airport pushes to build regional aerospace cluster, boost economic opportunities
A first-of-its-kind analysis outlines how CID can leverage its workforce, industry partners and development-ready land to compete with established aerospace regions
Dec. 14, 2025 5:30 am
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On the list of industries in Eastern Iowa, aviation and aerospace have long been subcategories of transportation. The Eastern Iowa Airport is looking to change that.
Through a 10-year strategic growth plan, Marty Lenss, director of The Eastern Iowa Airport, said area leaders plan to alter the list, moving aerospace out from under transportation to give it its own category.
“We're going to move that sub bullet,” he said. “It's going to be its own bullet.”
To make that shift, the airport has been working on deepening its aviation roots across Eastern Iowa and beyond to bolster economic growth.
The goal is to create an “aerospace cluster” in the region that includes companies, suppliers, educational institutions and support services focused on the aviation industry.
Lenss said the airport has been discussing ways to expand its economic opportunities for some time, an effort that gained momentum this year when CID was a finalist for the multi-billion-dollar “Project Atlas” development.
Although Cedar Rapids was not selected, it finished third nationally last summer. As a result, CID and the Cedar Rapids Airport Commission authorized a study to explore economic opportunities around the airport.
The airport partnered with the Iowa Economic Development Authority to commission a study by New York-based management consulting firm Oliver Wyman to identify key ways the airport can boost its profile and start putting long-term plans into action.
IEDA Director Debi Durham said the presence of Collins Aerospace and BAE Systems in Cedar Rapids means the area already is a “mini cluster.”
“It's not a full cluster … we think with some intentional focus and some just marketing around it, we could really position Iowa to see that sector grow,” Durham told reporters at a Dec. 4 event.
She said The Eastern Iowa Airport is uniquely situated for growth because “the airport that has all the land around them that's ready to go for development,” noting that its ability to do have “through-the-fence” agreements is “fairly unique.”
Through-the-fence agreements, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, allow people who own property with aircraft storage facilities near an airport to access the airport from off-airport property.
‘This is not an overnight process’
The report from the Oliver Wyman study lays out different ways the airport can work to elevate its economic growth.
It’s not a unique concept. Lenss said other airports have “been at this work for a long time.”
He pointed to the Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower Airport in Kansas, which has been developing its aerospace cluster for decades. He said the Spokane International Airport, in Washington also has done a lot of work.
Wichita “certainly has been at this for a lot longer time,” Lenss said.
To determine Eastern Iowa’s next steps, the Oliver Wyman study compared it to other regions that have aerospace clusters. The report recommends Eastern Iowa capture new aerospace and defense investments, target subsectors of the industry for the region, and develop new business attraction and marketing strategies to achieve the airport’s five-year vision.
In comparing this region to others, the report says Eastern Iowa offers a lower cost of living, an educated workforce and a sizable airfield-accessible site of more than 500 acres.
“However, Eastern Iowa must identify ways to expand its qualified workforce, improve infrastructure, leverage its innovation capabilities, and enhance marketing efforts to attract new tenants,” the report states.
Specifically, the report advises CID to “(A) stand-up a supporting operating model, (B) develop supporting marketing capabilities, and (C) enhance the emerging cluster’s [aerospace and defense] capabilities to match prospective investor needs.”
“This is not an overnight process, and Eastern Iowa will follow a multi-phased implementation strategy spanning 5+ years to implement recommendations,” the study states.
Lenss acknowledged that the work will take time.
“We're just on the front end of this. It's a marathon. Oliver Wyman reminds me it's not a sprint,” Lenss said. “This takes time, but we have a lot of reasons to be excited about it.”
Ron Corbett, vice president of economic development with the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, said an aerospace cluster in the region would be similar to the agricultural and food industry that already exists in Cedar Rapids with companies like Cargill, Ingredion, ADM, Quaker Oats and General Mills.
And with more companies and industry partners, Corbett said a “second ecosystem” will develop.
“Think of all these factories that we have in town: electrical contractors that are in every day servicing factories, mechanical contractors, plumbing and pipe-fitters,” Corbett said. “So you just have this multiplier effect that goes beyond the number of jobs that are at a particular company and that can develop around the aerospace and the defense cluster.”
The study recommends CID begin its work “immediately,” so the airport is prepared to attended the Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom next summer. The show occurs every two years and focuses on aerospace, aviation and defense innovations.
The study also recommends the airport attend a Paris-based airshow and airshows across North America to “build connections with applicable industries and increase name recognition.”
A blueprint for future growth
Lenss said the Oliver Wyman report is “really just stepping back” to evaluate the assets, property, air services, air cargo and workforce available in the region.
“It’s a totally new approach for the airport, but it makes a lot of sense, and it's not new in the industry,” he said. “We're very much on the front end of this, but it's a very dynamic space, with a lot of investment happening, a lot of growth happening. We've got the workforce the industry needs now here, the land that's needed. So we think we have a pretty powerful story to tell, and arguably a best kept secret that's about to go public.”
The study will help the airport navigate future growth and make it competitive with other regions. Key to that will be increasing local aerospace employment — from pilots and engineers, to mechanics and beyond — and activating the land surrounding CID.
The CID SuperPark is a 500-acre industrial development area near the airport that is ready for large-scale companies to lease and expand their operations. It was the state’s first certified superpark.
In addition to being situated near the airport, the land also provides access to highway and rail transportation.
The SuperPark is not the only land available for development. In total, there are about 1,300 acres around the airport that could be developed.
Lenss said the land north of the airport — which is connected to critical infrastructure like water, sewer and paved roads — is more business ready than the southern parcels. Development of the land to the south will occur as northern parcels are sold.
The land is about 10 years from being developed, he said.
‘We have the critical mass’
Corbett said CID is “blessed” to own the land that is now the SuperPark, pointing to the success of the Big Cedar Industrial Park as an example.
Big Cedar, which is owned by Alliant Energy, has seen the largest development investment in Cedar Rapids history with Google and QTS data centers now under construction.
With the CID SuperPark, Corbett said the region now has the land to market to aerospace and defense industries.
“We have a nice cluster with Collins Aerospace and BAE, so we have critical mass. And that's what you need when you're going to pursue business attraction,” he said. “Nobody ever wants to be the first company of a specific industry that moves into a community. So the fact that we have Collins and BAE, the suppliers of BAE, and a workforce pipeline through Kirkwood and Coe, it really positions us to compete for projects.”
Corbett said development around the airport will benefit more than just Cedar Rapids. He said cities like Marion and Iowa City, and even neighboring counties, will be boosted by development around CID.
Strengthening educational partnerships
The report also recommends the airport continue strengthening its relationships with educational institutions in the region, which help train future pilots and engineers and grow aviation roots in Iowa.
Lenss said The Eastern Iowa Airport has specific educational partnerships that support the region’s aerospace hub.
Kirkwood Community College and Coe College are partners with CID, boosting aviation workforce development that addresses employment gaps in the industry. Both schools have hangars at the airport to provide hands-on training to future pilots and maintenance technicians.
In addition, Coe College — where Lenss teaches an introductory aviation management course — launched a new four-year flying degree program last year.
Prairie High School recently introduced a career “pathway” for juniors and seniors. The program gets students started on the path to earning a Federal Aviation Administration mechanic certification.
The programs will help fill the 13,100 openings for aircraft and avionics equipment mechanics and technicians that are projected over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Lenss said the Oliver Wyman report will bolster these partnerships.
“We have kind of this farm team of talent that is happening within the state, and so hiring a company like Oliver Wyman to create that pathway, to connect these dots and give us a true road map for developing aerospace cluster and put Iowa on the map for the Midwest aerospace cluster,” he said. “It seemed very logical to us.”
Lenss said this work will lead to more “employment, families, sustaining jobs and more people” in the area.
Tim Busch, a flight instructor with Coe College, said having space at CID has worked well for teaching future pilots and mechanics. He hopes the airport’s future development attracts and retains more local workers.
“What isn't seen often enough is from an economic development perspective, just how much these people add,” Busch said.
Generally, Busch said, airline pilots earn an annual starting salary of $90,000-$100,000. On average, after 10 years in the industry, pilots can make about $206,000. And for 20 to 30 years of service, Busch said pilots can make $500,000-$700,000 annually.
“That's a huge deal if you can keep those jobs in the state because that's ... state tax revenue,” Busch said. “That doesn't get recognized enough.”
Busch said keeping this talent local would be a “big deal” for the state of Iowa.
“When I talk to high school students, I go, ‘Well, maybe you think you want to be an NFL or an NHL player in the future, but your odds are like one in 10 million, right?’ But your odds are far, far, far better if you become a pilot, and here's why,” Busch said.
“The demand for pilots right now is like 420,000 pilots over the next 20 years. It's huge. It's more than the schools have the ability to create pilots. If you can create them here at home and keep them at home, now we've done a huge benefit to the state of Iowa.”
Lenss said increased activity at The Eastern Iowa Airport also will benefit the airport, which does not receive tax revenue from the city or the county. He called it a “totally self-sufficient enterprise.”
“So those dollars generated through this type of development would come back into the airport and get reinvested in the public asset to further that economic engine for the region,” Lenss said. “Those are some of the ways the community and region and people win.”
Corbett said CID is one of the “selling points” of Cedar Rapids and Eastern Iowa.
“When we think of proposing companies to move here, to locate here or even expand here, there are certain bedrocks, I would say, to the selling points of Cedar Rapids in the region,” he said. “One of those bedrock selling points is CID and how connected the airport is with the number of flights that they have and also how important it is from getting cargo in and out from the airport. For them to go to this next level, to be more than just an asset of the community, but to be an active player economic development is very exciting.”
Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. She is also a contributing writer for the Ag and Water Desk, an independent journalism collaborative focusing on the Mississippi River Basin.
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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com
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