© 2025 Kansas Public Radio

91.5 FM | KANU | Lawrence, Topeka, Kansas City
96.1 FM | K241AR | Lawrence (KPR2)
89.7 FM | KANH | Emporia
99.5 FM | K258BT | Manhattan
97.9 FM | K250AY | Manhattan (KPR2)
91.3 FM | KANV | Junction City, Olsburg
89.9 FM | K210CR | Atchison
90.3 FM | KANQ | Chanute

See the Coverage Map for more details

FCC On-line Public Inspection Files Sites:
KANU, KANH, KANV, KANQ

Questions about KPR's Public Inspection Files?
Contact General Manager Feloniz Lovato-Winston at fwinston@ku.edu
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Is the Kansas Aerospace Industry Recession Proof?

Aerospace could keep Kansas from feeling much of the pain caused by a national recession. As Stephan Bisaha of the Kansas News Service reports, several economists are predicting a recession in the next two years.


Economist Richard Aboulafia says the aerospace industry fared pretty well during the Great Recession. 

"The only exception was Kansas. It's almost like the industry put all of its pain in Wichita," he says.

He says that was due to Wichita's production of small and mid-sized business jets, the segment hit hardest by the recession.

But now there's huge demand for the commercial aviation fuselages currently being built in Kansas by Wichita's Spirit AeroSystems. 

"This is looking if not completely recession-proof then, well, in pretty great shape," he says.

Aerospace contributes about five billion dollars annually to the state's gross domestic product and makes up a quarter of the state's exports, according to the Kansas Department of Commerce. 

Economists do warn there's a bigger risk to Kansas than a recession -- an escalated trade war with China.