Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 6

157 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 6 EL PASO INTERNAT IONAL A I RPORT the nation to operate with a STARS radar system – a system that upgrades the air traffic control system and enhances the safety of the flying public. El Paso International Airport is also the site of NASA’s Johnson Space Center Forward Operating Location, which was a training center for astronauts during the Shuttle missions. Today, the Forward Operating Location serves as a maintenance facility for NASA’s T-38 trainer jet aircraft and home of the Super Guppy Transport aircraft, the last remaining operational aircraft of its kind. “El Paso is the gateway to Western Texas, the Southwestern United States, and Northern Mexico,” says Sam Rodriguez, El Paso’s Aviation Director & Chief Operations and Transportation Officer. “With more than 2.5 million people in this area, we are a border city that helps form the world’s biggest border Metroplex when combined with Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.” AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POWERHOUSE The El Paso International Airport service area covers a 200-mile circumference, making it a critical and strategic transportation hub for business, leisure, and military travel. The airport is close to major national parks and monuments and serves as the commercial gateway for Fort Bliss and the White Sands Missile Range. “From an economic development standpoint, El Paso is home to one of the busiest ports for import and export between the U.S. and Mexico,” says Rodriguez. “More than $100 billion worth of trade goes through our region’s ports, which accounts for almost 20 percent of the trade between the US and Mexico. Our region is home to more than 360 manufacturing operations with over 75 Fortune 500 companies. El Paso is one of the top five manufacturing hubs in terms of