Victorville’s Southern California Logistics Airport is the largest employment center in the High Desert with nearly 4,100 local employees. However, city data shows that some Victorville residents are unaware their city has an airport.
During an episode of the “What’s the Tea VV” podcast, city employee Elena Falcon asked locals trivia questions about their hometown, including which facility the city is missing. Sixty percent of participants guessed the city doesn’t have an airport.
What is Victorville’s Logistics Airport and what do the employees do there?
Victorville’s airport is home to flight testing, as well as aircraft storage, painting and maintenance, officials explained.
Parts like engines and wings are tested in Victorville before they are approved and sent to major California airports like Ontario International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. The High Desert airport has painted and touched up several Boeing models, including 737 Max, 747, 787 Dreamliner and others, through continued contracts with on-site tenants AeroPro and International Aerospace Coatings.
In addition to an impressive repertoire of aircraft models in the airport’s maintenance shop, the Southern California Logistics Airport also reaches a global customer base, officials said. An on-site customs officer clears international flights, so customers from Asia, Europe and South America can bring aircraft to Victorville for maintenance hassle-free.
“We have an impact across the whole globe,” airport director James Murawski said.
The facility also has a Victor Valley College training program. For the past 20 years, students right out of high school have been able to gain first-hand experience as airframe and powerplant mechanics through the two-year aviation mechanic certificate program.
However, not everyone who works at the airport is a mechanic or technician. A majority of workers at the largest employment center in the High Desert work in the property’s industrial park complex.
First-class employment
The Logistics Airport occupies the old George Air Force Base. The Daily Press reported that 7,500 jobs were lost when the base closed in 1992, as well as a $72.1 million cut in inflation-adjusted retail sales the next year.
To offset the economic crisis, the city of Victorville annexed the property and reopened it as a public airport in 1994.
Today, the airport is currently home to 49 tenants, with 99% of tenantable buildings under agreement.
Off-airport development has transformed the complex into a thriving industrial park. Seven million square feet of industrial space is occupied by major manufacturing and warehousing companies like Keurig Dr Pepper, Amazon, Goodyear Tire, Mars, and Graco.
The Amazon Fulfillment Center alone employs roughly 1,000 workers.
The airport continues to grow, according to Murawski.
“More opportunities coming in the near future,” he said, but did not specify details. He suggested a potential growth in job opportunities soon for High Desert residents.
McKenna Mobley is a reporter for the Daily Press. She can be reached at mmobley@usatodayco.com or on Instagram @mckenna_dailypress.
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This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: High Desert’s biggest employer: A look at jobs at Victorville airport
Reporting by McKenna Mobley, Victorville Daily Press / Victorville Daily Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By McKenna Mobley, Victorville Daily Press | USA TODAY Network
