Pathway to Employment Increasingly en Vogue for Tech-Starved Industry

StandardAero graduated their 3rd and 4th classes from their in-house Aviation Mechanic Training Program, sending 25 new employee-students at their Port San Antonio, Texas location.

The graduation was celebrated at the Boeing Center at Tech Port, showing the invited friends and family around the place. Reps from the company, City of San Antonio and Port San Antonio were in attendance, as is often the case when job creation is happening in the vicinity. Russell Ford, Chairman & CEO of StandardAero, flew in from the company's Scottsdale, Arizona headquarters to speak.

StandardAero’s arrangement could become the norm in no time, given the industry's dearth of qualified AMTs across the board. The company provides in-house training via a 12-week program, running recruits through class training and all the tooling needed in the course of their MRO employment. The San Antonio MRO facility houses 5 major engine MRO programs, serving both commercial and military customers, giving trainees a view of their eventual career path from the very start. So far, the StandardAero Training Academy and Mechanic Training Program has graduated 55 new mechanics to date, though the school can generate 200 new techs each year, once they're operating at full capacity.

“Hiring, training, and retaining aviation maintenance technicians is one of our biggest challenges and top priorities for StandardAero and our entire industry,” said Greg Chapman, Director of Training and Workforce Development. “To accelerate our ability to quickly bring on new skilled workers as the business expands, our senior leadership had the vision and the foresight to work with local partners and invest in an upskilling program. That investment included hiring 12 dedicated instructors and providing dedicated space, resources and a customized curriculum for our new hires to hit the ground running -- whether they have any aviation or mechanical experience, or not.”

“Our goals for our graduating students are quite high,” said Russell Ford. “We want to bring in the most diverse candidates, train them quickly, retain 100% of our graduates and create a lifelong career path that provides them with meaningful work and rewarding pay and benefits."

FMI: www.standardaero.com