StandardAero Graduates 25 New Students From the Company’s In-House Aviation Mechanic Training Program in San Antonio

StandardAero recently celebrated the graduation of the company’s third and fourth classes from its in-house Aviation Mechanic Training Program at the company’s San Antonio site located at Port San Antonio.
 
Twenty-five new employees/students graduated from the recent program and celebrated the event on December 11 at the nearby Boeing Center at Tech Port along with their family members, StandardAero leadership, representatives from the City of San Antonio and Port San Antonio.  Russell Ford, Chairman & CEO of StandardAero, traveled from the company’s Scottsdale, Arizona headquarters to deliver the keynote speech at the graduation ceremony.  
 
StandardAero’s customized, in-house training program and Academy focuses on training groups of up to 25 employees in each of its cohorts, working through a comprehensive 12-week program featuring a variety of experiences ranging from classroom training to hands-on training with tooling, equipment and engines.  The Academy is located at the San Antonio MRO facility, which houses five major engine MRO programs, serving both commercial and military customers, under more than 810,000 square feet of industrial space.
 
StandardAero launched its new Training Academy and Mechanic Training Program in June of this year and has graduated 55 new mechanics to date.  The Mechanic Training Program can support up to 200 new mechanics annually.  The company started this program to help meet the growing needs for additional maintenance workers at its facility in San Antonio as well as for other company locations in the future.
 
“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.”
 
So far, the program has included employees with significant industry experience, employees with experience from the automotive industry and employees with no mechanical experience at all.  The 12-week program is modular to accelerate the training time for employees with previous experience and to get them on the factory floor quickly.  For employees with little to no experience, the full program ensures that all students are fully oriented to gas turbine technology both through classroom and hands-on training, working with engine parts and components.
 
“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.”
 
StandardAero is continuing to sponsor the Training Academy in 2024 and beyond.  The company has plans to train over 150 technicians next year and it also plans to transfer instructors and curriculum to other company facilities around the world to maximize StandardAero’s ability to continue to hire and staff technicians to meet the company’s growing global demands.   
 
“For more than a century, StandardAero’s name has been synonymous around the world with delivery of the highest quality service while continually innovating.  We’re thrilled to see the rapid implementation of the new training program and the lifelong doors of opportunity that are being opened to hardworking people across our community.  Our longtime customer is building on San Antonio’s proud aerospace heritage while developing new generations of talent and helping them chart an exciting course toward their futures,” concluded Jim Perschbach, President and CEO Port San Antonio.