Jan. 20--WASHINGTON -- Roughly a quarter of the nation's 637,000 aerospace workers could be eligible for retirement this year, raising fears that America may be facing a serious skills shortage in the factories that churn out commercial and military aircraft.

"It's a looming issue that's getting more serious year by year," says Marion Blakey, president and chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association. "These are real veterans. It's a hard work force to replace."

The AIA, which represents aircraft manufacturers and suppliers, has designated the potential skills drain as one of its top 10 priorities in this year's presidential race. And one of the major unions that represent aerospace workers is also aggressively embracing the issue in a rare alliance between labor and management.

"It's not a problem that's coming," says Frank Larkin, spokesman for the 720,000-member International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. "It's here."

Nationally, the aerospace work force is clearly graying as the baby-boom generation prepares to step into retirement. It's a trend that also shows up in other industries where employers, because of particular skills, maintain the loyalty of workers for much of their careers. For example, 40 percent of the federal government work force will become eligible for retirement in the next five years, according to government and other estimates.

The issue especially resonates in aircraft-manufacturing centers such as Dallas-Fort Worth, the St. Louis metropolitan area, the Puget Sound region in Washington, and Wichita, Kan., which bills itself as the "Air Capital of the World."