New opportunities
Aerospace looking for workers as it continues to experience growth
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. – Walking along StandardAero’s expansive shop floor these days is an exercise in dexterity. There is a seemingly constant flow of carts laden with engine parts, tools and components being pushed by people walking purposefully hither and thither. By any standard, it’s a busy place and it’s about to get busier.
After two years of trying to weather the COVID-19 storm, the company, one of the city's biggest employers, is once again looking to the future and expanding its workforce. It is currently trying to fill 15 positions and expects to offer about 35 more by the end of 2022.
“We want to get the message out there that we’re still a great employer.
“We’re excited to be hiring and building the workforce,” said Brenda Cousins, human resource manager for StandardAero.
Based in Slemon Park, just outside Summerside, StandardAero (formerly Vector Aerospace) is one of the area’s most prominent private employers. Pre-pandemic, more than 500 people worked there, but the company reduced its staff to about 400 over the past two years as it tried to survive the near evaporation of its market.
Before March 2020, StandardAero’s local shop conducted repairs and maintenance on between 15 to 20 turboprop aircraft engines per week. By May, that statistic had dropped to 10 to 15 and by July it was down to two or three.
The company went into survival mode during that time and rotated its workforce on and off the job, with those on temporary layoffs able to access the federal Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program.
Between 40 and 50 per cent of the staff was off the job at any given time.
Jeff Poirier, vice-president and general manager of StandardAero-Atlantic, said the company was hoping to avoid making any permanent cuts to its workforce, but the pandemic hit the aviation industry especially hard.
“The workload didn’t really come back when the (staff’s) time on CERB was done,” said Poirier.
With reality setting in that the pandemic was not going to go away in the short-term, and that global air traffic would remain curtailed for the foreseeable future, the company made the difficult decision to incrementally reduce its staff by about 125 people. Those layoffs happened between September 2020 and March 2021.
At the same time, StandardAero-Atlantic was looking to secure its position in the market long-term. It bought out and absorbed its only remaining similar-sized competitor, Dallas Airmotive, in July 2021.
That acquisition is part of the reason the Summerside shop is looking to expand again.
The move to a ‘new normal’ phase of the pandemic and the resumption of domestic and international air travel are the other major factors.
“We’re in the process now of not only seeing our markets return, but we’re in the process of moving a significant pile of work from Dallas, Texas, to Summerside,” said Poirier.
Bottom-line, the shop has or is going to get more work than it can currently handle, so it needs to increase capacity or risk losing the work to sister shops in other countries or the competition.
“Every line is busy. If you look at it today, we’ve got backlog for two or three months of work that we just can’t get at in the shop because we don’t have the people to touch the work,” said Poirier.
“Add to that the amount of work coming to us from the acquisition and we’re in a situation where we’re either going to have to force the work out of Summerside, back towards our global sites, or we’re going to lose market share because our customers will just take it to our competitors.”
Poirier said the company is working with Holland College, which offers an aircraft turbine maintenance program, to try and help fill some of the gaps it now has in its workforce, but anyone with a mechanical background could be an asset to the company.
“Certainly, compared to where we came from and what we were dealing with this time last year It’s exciting and it’s a feel-good thing,” said Cousins.
“It’s almost like a boost just for everyone who works here to see new faces coming in and it just kind of brings back that confidence.”
News that such a key local employer is again looking at growth was welcomed by the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce.
"Our business community has faced unprecedented challenges these last two years and, in most cases, have had to make some tough decisions. Due to the nature of their business, StandardAero was no exception," said Tara Maddix, executive director of the chamber.
"It is encouraging to hear the growth this company is expecting throughout 2022 and that the demand for employees is once again rising. We are fortunate to have high-quality facilities in our community such as StandardAero, the success of this business over the years is undoubtedly a reflection of their management and the team that surrounds them."
Anyone interested in more information about the positions the company is looking to fill can find out more information under the careers section of its website, www. standardaero.com.