Gov. Jeff Landry toured three Chennault International Airport tenants’ operations Thursday, Northrop Grumman, Citadel and Landlocked Aviation Service.

The tour highlighted Chennault’s importance to the economy as the No. 1 aviation economic driver of all 68 total airports in Louisiana, and allowed companies to show off operations, which currently employ about 1,000 men and women.

Landlocked Aviation has the business to put more employees to work. Training is on-the-job. The owner just needs more space, a second hangar.

“We’ve all heard the expression, build it and they will come,” said Tyson Grenzebach, owner and founder of Landlocked Aviation.
“I am saying build it – it (the people, the business) is already here.”     

Grenzebach said he doesn’t believe the community knows that Chennault exists – and it’s their airport. Jobs there turn into great careers and not all of them require experience or a four-year degree.

Landry said it’s up to the Southwest Louisiana legislators to answer the question of whether the state can find the money to fund the build, with a nod toward Senators Jeremy Stine and Mark Abraham, who were on the tour. Both are on the Louisiana State Senate Finance Committee.

“You can’t build it on love,” Landry said. “There is money we can’t touch and we need to figure out how to do it creatively, and in a way that it will be the best investment for y’all and others across the state.”

The Governor pointed to the Constitution, in particular Article 7 which covers the state’s revenue and finance system, taxation and exemptions, as a factor in holding back the state from reaching its full economic potential. Constitutional revisions could help Louisiana achieve a wholesale tax reform.           

The Governor did commit to putting the right people together in one room – especially Susana Schowen, Secretary of the Louisiana Workforce Commission –  to talk about workforce needs at Chennault, solving a problem that hinders progress. “No one talks to each other.”