Aguadilla

Aguadilla exists because Ramey Air Force Base existed. The U.S. military built the Caribbean's longest runway (11,700 feet) during World War II for strategic air command operations. When the base closed in 1973, the runway remained—and infrastructure this substantial doesn't disappear; it finds new purposes. Lufthansa Technik's 2014 MRO center, the Aeronautical & Aerospace Institute, and the aerospace industrial park now occupy facilities designed for Cold War bombers.

The aerospace cluster illustrates how military decommissioning seeds civilian industry. Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell Aerospace, and Florida Turbines operate alongside the Lufthansa maintenance facility. The airport generates 1,400 direct and 6,000 indirect jobs. Commercial airlines (JetBlue, United, Spirit) and cargo operators (FedEx, Emirates Sky Cargo, CargoLux) use the runway that once launched B-52s.

Infrastructure investment accelerates the transformation. A million runway rehabilitation project is underway, supplementing the million already allocated from federal and local sources. The governor described the airport as "an engine of the economy" contributing over .5 billion annually to Puerto Rico. The new Aeronautical and Aerospace Institute trains mechanics for immediate employment while providing continuing certification for working technicians.

**By 2026**, Aguadilla will test whether Cold War infrastructure can anchor Caribbean aerospace competitiveness. The runway accommodates aircraft that regional airports cannot; the training pipeline produces technicians other locations lack; the MRO cluster offers maintenance proximity for airlines serving the Americas. Whether this combination captures expanding aerospace service demand or whether mainland U.S. facilities reclaim the work, depends on Puerto Rico maintaining cost and regulatory advantages that offset logistical complexity.