ST. LOUIS – “It’s exciting to be one of only two regionals in the country, in the entire industry, to have this certification, and we’re going to do great things with it,” GoJet Airlines CEO Rick Leach said.

Leach knows his company is flying in rare air. Landing the FAA’s 145 certification allows GoJet to be considered a premier maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility. It means GoJet can work on any aircraft from any airline. For St. Louis, it means jobs.

“We’ve got 100 to 150, probably at least, really good-paying jobs will be coming here to St. Louis, which is amazing for our region,” Leach said. “It’s going to be great for our company.”

GoJet joins American, Alaska, Delta, and United as the only major or regional airlines with this designation.

“Sometimes people don’t realize that there’s a lot of work that goes into getting that aircraft to the gate. The things that are happening around the clock to make that happen,” Leach said. “Now, you guys are going to be in a much more forward-facing way to our industry, really having an impact beyond what we do in the commercial passenger carrier side.”

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Established in 2005, GoJet is headquartered in St. Louis. It’s 1,100 employees who service more than a million passengers annually, exclusively for United Airlines.

“Getting a certificate for the 145 is really important to this airport,” St. Louis Lambert International Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said.

She says GoJet’s story is one of resilience. A theme she believes is at the core of not only GoJet’s growth but also the future of business at Lambert.

“When you take all of these partners together and you think about all the growth and the transformation that’s happening, this next decade, in my opinion, is going to be the decade this airport deserves and probably the best decade we’ve seen,” Hamm-Niebruegge said.

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