Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey declared October “Arizona Manufacturers Month” to highlight the almost 5,000 companies in the fields of aerospace and defense, semiconductors, bioscience and medical supplies.

Now in November, one aerospace company that serves the industry’s manufacturers said its economic contributions are fairly unrecognized.

Rob Higby, CEO of Turbine Aero said aircraft maintenance is the third biggest contributor to the industry economically after engines, and the structural body.

"You know economically, it’s of great interest because the whole after-market business, meaning after the aircraft is delivered from Boeing or from Airbus, is where a lot of the interest or a lot of the jobs, a lot of the engineering sort of takes over," Higby said.   

He said maintenance of aircraft is what actually creates the multibillion dollar industry globally, that drives the economic engine.

Arizona is the second largest state in terms of the aerospace maintenance business, after Florida.