Aviation Futures Training Center to open at Olive-Harvey College
A 60-year-old Chicago company that maintains aircraft and aircraft parts has forged a partnership with Olive-Harvey College to train students on three donated planes and prepare them for jobs in the airline industry.
The Aviation Futures Training Center is expected to be cleared for takeoff in March as an extension of Olive-Harvey’s longstalled, soon-to-open transportation, distribution and logistics center.
The program, located at the Calumet Business Center at 98th and Dorchester, will initially accommodate up to 80 students.
After 300 hours of instruction and handson training with sheet metal from airplane fuselages, students will graduate with a certification qualifying them for jobs that could pay up to $80,000 within three to five years.
The program and its curriculum is the brainchild of AAR, a global aerospace provider headquartered near O’Hare Airport; it has 6,000 employees around the world, including 3,000 mechanics.
AAR President and CEO John Holmes said it all started at a power lunch when Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked Holmes what keeps him up at night — other than his 3-year-old son. Holmes talked about the “tremendous shortage of skilled labor in the global aviation industry,” particularly in North America.
“Over the next few years, it’s estimated we’re gonna need another 189,000 mechanics to support the large and growing fleet in the U.S.,” Holmes said, noting that 30 percent of the 237,000 mechanics now working are expected to retire in the next few years.
“These are technical skills and mechanics that keep the fleet actually in the air. And they’re really good jobs ... well-paying. They’re in high demand, and they don’t require a four-year degree,” he said.
“We’ll be providing hands-on, entry-level training for sheet-metal work that’s not only good for aviation but also important for other industries as well.”
As the driving force and technical partner in the new center, AAR will support curriculum development, provide tools and equipment and recruit instructors.
The company also will provide a “certain number of scholarships and apprenticeships for the graduates” and “additional financial support.”
“This is also a great opportunity to bring more diversity into the workforce in aviation by attracting African-Americans, Hispanics and women into the aviation industry, which would be a great thing,” Holmes said.