Hartsfield-Jackson Expands Programs Aimed at Future Aviation Workforce

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is expanding its programs to attract more young people to aviation jobs, part of a broader effort in the industry to entice youths to become pilots, aircraft mechanics and other aviation professionals.

The Atlanta airport’s summer youth employment program started this month with 114 local high school students assigned to a business unit in the Department of Aviation for training in work readiness and soft skills. Each student is earning $16.50 an hour.

Hartsfield- Jackson also this year launched an apprenticeship program aimed at creating pipelines for plumbers, electricians, HVAC workers and others needed to keep the airport running. The program, in partnership with the Atlanta Technical College, allows 25 people to learn a trade with mentoring from an airport employee.

“It takes more than pilots and controllers to make the world’s busiest airport run as efficiently as it does,” said Michael Smith, senior deputy general manager at Hartsfield- Jackson.

The airport is continuing a summer internship program for 42 college students, and for the second year hosted a youth in aviation camp for organized by the Motherless Daughters Foundation. That spring break camp in April allowed students to learn the fundamentals of aeronautics, hear aviation industry speakers, take simulator flights and tours of the airport, aircraft and the control tower.

Hartsfield- Jackson general manager Balram Bheodari called the airport’s youth programs an effort to bring economic prosperity to communities that surround the airport.

“We had some kids — for the first time they were getting a paycheck, and that paycheck was going to their parents to pay the electrical bill and water bill,” Bheodari said.

He said he decided to expand the youth programs after Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens earlier this year called for a “Year of the Youth” to curb violence affecting young people in the city.

“We want to eliminate barriers that prevent young people from reaching their full potential, and invest in youth programs and services that open doors,” Dickens said during his State of the City speech.

The airport’s summer programs are among a vast array of programs targeted at attracting youth into the aviation field.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines sponsors a week-long program during the summer called the ACE Academy to introduce middle school and high school students to aerospace.

A separate Aviation Career Enrichment program at Fulton County’s Charlie Brown Field trains youths to become pilots.

Many stress the importance of attracting youth to aviation to forestall future shortages of pilots, mechanics and other key personnel. Myriad other programs in Georgia target youth interested in aviation, including the Kennesaw-based Brock Foundation’s mentorship program and ASPIRE Aviation summer camp at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport to be held later this month.

A number of youth programs focus on attracting more people from under-represented groups to aviation. U.S. Rep Hank Johnson, D- Lithonia, has re-introduced a bill in Congress to boost minorities in aviation through a grant program to be named for Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license in the U.S.

At Fulton Leadership Academy, school officials last month received a $500,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to train students to become aviation maintenance technicians through a dual enrollment program with the Aviation Institute of Maintenance.

“We spend a lot of time in FAA, planning for the workforce of the future,” said Michael O’Harra, FAA regional administrator for the Southern region. He told students at an event to award the grant that aviation involves the development of commercial space, drones and preparation for the return of supersonic flight.

“Aviation tomorrow is not the same as aviation yesterday,” he said. “Everything that is in aviation is exciting. If you can find a great paying job, that’s something you love, when does it really get any sweeter than that?”

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