The future of air travel—and its potential economic benefits—come into focus during a three-day event.

Erik Chalhoub here. Recently, I was commenting in our weekly editorial staff meeting about the various acronyms surrounding the aerospace industry—AAM, UAS, eVTOL, etc.—and how the average person might not be familiar with them, nor realize the growing impact they have on the Central Coast region.

I have a basic knowledge of these terms, which I familiarized myself with nearly a year ago when I covered Joby Aviation’s reveal of its second prototype aircraft at its research and development facility at the Marina Municipal Airport.

(For the record, AAM stands for Advanced Air Mobility, referencing the new technologies being developed for air transportation. UAS is Uncrewed Aerial Systems, such as drones, while eVTOL is electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft).

So, a comment I heard today by Monterey Bay Economic Partnership President and CEO Tahra Goraya resonated with me. Speaking to dozens of people at the Monterey Conference Center, she said everyone in the room was familiar with the term AAM, but how do said people and their organizations share that message to the broader public, and make them aware of the many different careers in the industry that are right in their backyard?

That was among the many questions discussed during the second day of the LIFT Summit organized by Monterey Bay DART, which is bringing together leaders from the aerospace industry, government agencies, economic development organizations and the educational realm with the focus on boosting the local aerospace industry as a way to drive the economy.

The three-day event began yesterday, March 26 with a tour of the Marina and Salinas airports, where attendees were given demonstrations of AAM and UAS operations and chatted with the people behind them.

Panel discussions began today and conclude tomorrow, March 28 at the Monterey Conference Center.

A theme emerged among the morning panels from today: The talent is here locally to sustain the workforce—the key now is to not only encourage outside companies to set up shop here, but also prove to locals that such pathways can lead to successful careers.

Cody Cleverly, the workforce development lead at Joby Aviation, pointed to an apprenticeship program created by DART and Joby that provides a six-month paid position for local residents to be trained on manufacturing, maintenance and other entry-level jobs in the aerospace realm.

Since it launched in 2023, more than 70 people have gone through the program, including farmworkers, automotive technicians and seamstresses, according to Cleverly. The panel showed a video featuring Aurelio Ortiz of Greenfield, a former farmworker and butcher who went through the apprenticeship program, who said he’s now interested in a career in the aerospace industry and plans to go to college to pursue his goals. 

“We’ve proven we can have tremendous success with this model,” Cleverly said. “We’ve dramatically scaled our production in the region since the creation of this apprenticeship.”

Many involved in the LIFT Summit envision a future where clean, safe air travel becomes the preferred mode of travel. If that comes to fruition, there needs to be people who can build and maintain these aircraft. Now is the time to train them.