'Coopetition' Is Key to Aviation Cluster Success Many of Oklahoma's aviation companies struggled to stay alive in the months and years after 9/11, when the transportation and aviation industries went into a tailspin from which they are now recovering. This was especially true in the greater Tulsa area, which is home to a well-established aerospace and aviation maintenance and repair industry cluster.       "The industry is rebounding despite record-high crude oil prices, and that's a testament to the industry," says Paul Creider, managing director, components and avionics maintenance and base supply, at American Airlines' Maintenance and Engineering Center. "If it wasn't for that pricing issue, which is out of our control, this would be an awesome industry right now." Most airlines are outsourcing their maintenance functions, but "American is in this business to stay," he says. "Tulsa and Oklahoma are friendly to this industry.       "People in this state recognize the value of aerospace," adds Creider. "Four years ago, we all got a wakeup call that if aerospace tanks, cities like Tulsa and Oklahoma City and the state of Oklahoma will be impacted very negatively. We're going to survive together, and I'm very optimistic about our future as an industry and as a community of professionals."       Jim Parker, vice president of supply chain management at The NORDAM Group, a leading aerospace and aviation services company based in Tulsa, counts the huge American Airlines facility among his clients. "In the past three years, it's been exciting to see the tough times we've been through, and now to see some of that [business] coming back," he relates. To meet growing demand for its services, NORDAM is staffing up and streamlining its service-delivery model to better meet the needs of it clients in the area, which he says means reducing costs in every area of the business.       "It's been absolutely critical for our customers, like American, that have been on our back for us to reduce our costs for them to survive and prosper," says Parker. "We've seen a lot of collaboration not only at NORDAM but within the industry, because we all have to work together to make this [industry] happen. The future is going to be much brighter, and there is a wealth of opportunity."       American Airlines and an aviation unit of Honeywell discovered that rather than ship certain work out of state that it could not do onsite, Honeywell could outsource it to the American Airlines maintenance center and keep the work in Tulsa. "In the truck I send down to American every day to pick up parts to repair I now put some parts in for them to repair," says Scott Selle, the Honeywell unit's general manager. "A lot of us are competitors, but a lot of us are also suppliers to each other."       Aerospace in the Tulsa area and in Oklahoma in general is big business. The industry employs 143,000 people at approximately 400 companies with a payroll of nearly $5 billion and an industrial output of $11.7 billion. The Aerospace Alliance of Tulsa was formed several years ago to cultivate the local aviation industry, but a statewide alliance would benefit even more companies.       "We want to take the Tulsa Alliance concept and spread it throughout the state, because the largest employer in the state is Tinker Air Force Base, and the second largest is American Airlines," says Creider. Which is the genesis of the Oklahoma Aerospace Association, organized in October 2004. "All of the support [companies] like NORDAM and Honeywell and Bizjet can benefit. We are excited to solidify a statewide association that is promoting awareness of an industry that is a major player in the state and in this part of the country."       For more, visit www.OKcommerce.gov/aerospace.