Demand for Maintenance Technicians Leads Spartan to Acquire Colorado Aviation Maintenance School

April 19, 2016
Spartan Education Group LLC announced the acquisition of Redstone College, an aviation maintenance school located between Denver and Boulder, Colorado

With the average age for maintenance technicians in the U.S. reaching about 53, Boeing predicted that by 2031, there will be a need for more than 600,000 aviation maintenance technicians.  

To keep up with this demand, Spartan Education Group LLC announced the acquisition of Redstone College, an aviation maintenance school located between Denver and Boulder, Colorado. 

“Aligning an excellent school like Redstone with the same organization as Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology is a win-win for everyone — especially for students,” Spartan CEO Peter Harris told Tulsa World. “The acquisition of Redstone, with such a strong aviation history, is a natural complement to Spartan Education Group’s global growth strategy.” 

Redstone College was founded in 1965 and has trained more than 10,000 students in areas such as  airframe and power plant, avionics, wind energy and HVAC, according to redstone.edu.  

Following the acquisition of Redstone last week, Spartan now has six campuses in three markets: Denver, Tulsa and Los Angeles.  

"What's really driving [the expansion] in large part is the demand for aviation maintenance technicians. We also believe by combining campuses with similar programs we're able to gain additional expertise and continue to build our aviation training programs as we work to become a global leader in aviation training.”

Spartan also acquired Crimson Technical College in California in 2014, which is now its Los Angeles campus. Crimson was founded in 1930.

About the Author

Vesna Brajkovic

Vesna Brajkovic, who grew up around pilots and aviation mechanics, creates digital content for AviationPros.com. She recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. When she's not writing about the aviation industry, you can find her freelancing for MyCommunityNow-Lake Country (USA Today Network). She can be reached at [email protected].