Amazon to partner with Lakeland aviation school to train aircraft mechanics

A career fixing Amazon’s cargo planes just got a lot less expensive to obtain.

To address an industrywide aircraft mechanic shortage, a Lakeland private industry employer such as Amazon is now offering tuition assistance for an FAA certification as an aircraft mechanic, according to a local aviation school CEO.

Through its Amazon career choice program, the air cargo and online shopping giant will “pay all or substantially all of the tuition” for students to earn certification at the Aero International Academy aircraft mechanic school, said the school’s CEO Steven Markhoff.

The training based at Lakeland Linder International Airport readies students to gain a professional license as an aviation mechanic, which is offering the opportunity to its fulfilment workers, welders and truck drivers, among other entry-level positions.

Markhoff said, his repair division pays about $25 per hour with benefits. But he knows of a 19-year-old student who with six months to go at Aero International was offered the opportunity at General Electric’s Indiana engine plant to work at $37 per hour.

With overtime, the now-teenaged student could make $100,000 as an aircraft mechanic, he said.

The aviation school has several job fairs each school year to help aviation industry companies such as airlines and manufacturers find licensed professionals. With tuition assistance from Amazon, students can gain a career as a trained and licensed professional without incurring student loan debt.

Amazon had approached Aero International last spring, Markhoff said. “What they told us was there's a massive shortage in mechanics in the industry and they see a benefit; they see because they have Amazon Air.”

Aero International changed its class schedule to accommodate current Amazon employees with coursework at night so more of them could attend after work. The aviation school also extended classes from the normal 17 months to 22 months for Amazon workers, which also allows its workers to work just 30 hours a week while learning the trade.

The first class which started this week is now full and a waitlist has been started for the next one.

Career Choice is an education and skills training benefit for Amazon employees, the company said.

The Aircraft Maintenance Technician pathway, which is part of Amazon’s Career Choice program “empowers employees to learn new skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere,” the company said.

“One of Career Choice’s verticals is called Pathways where we provide employees the opportunity to earn certifications in technology, health care, transportation, mechanical and industrial systems, and business and administration systems,” Amazon said. “Currently, we have an Aircraft Maintenance Technician pathway where employees can earn the necessary certifications to further their career in the aviation industry.”

Participants in the pathway hold an Airframe and Powerplant certificate accredited by the FAA and maintain aircraft to ensure safety and airworthiness. Participants work in a variety of capacities in the transportation and aviation sector.

Markhoff says it's not just private employers experiencing a shortage of mechanics, Polk County has a shortage too.

“We get calls from people who own airplanes that have them at maintenance facilities at various airports around Polk County and they say 'my plane's been stuck in an annual inspection that should have taken two weeks and it's been there for six months, and they still haven't touched it,'” he said.

The Aero International school is also an FAA certified repair station but even there they don't have the capacity to take them because we're so busy with its own charter aircraft and its our flight school airplanes.

“It all boils down to the same issue, lack of manpower,” Markhoff said. “And the entire industry is suffering from it.”

He added legacy airlines have never hired aviation mechanics straight out of school but they are doing it to fill the vacancies. “And that's never, ever been the case. Ever.”

The Covid pandemic made matters worse. Even before it, aviation schools were not meeting the demand for new mechanics.

Pre-COVID there were about 6,000 American licensed mechanics were produced a year, but the requirement was for about 12,000.

“And then nobody expected the economy to come back as quickly as it did,” Markoff said. “And you can't magically snap your fingers and say, 'gee, I need, you know, 5,000 pilots and 5,000 mechanics, because there's a there's a lead time.' It becomes a supply chain issue.”

He also said the perception of aviation mechanics as a career choice is changing.

“I mean, it is a problem we've created ourselves in the industry because traditionally we've always treated mechanics as blue-collar workers and that's simply not the case,” Markhoff said.

Further, if an Aero International student gains their FAA certification, they can use the certification to gain an associate degree in Aerospace Administration at Polk State College much faster, Coordinator Gordon Mays said.

Mays said the final word on credit transfers are determined by the college’s registrar’s office, but students in the degree program who started at Aero International, FAA certification could qualify for up to 30 credits if accepted by the registrar.

But not just college-aged students are gaining aerospace workforce training in Polk County. The Polk County Public Schools have recently expanded to three career academies in aviation, according to district media spokesman Kyle Kennedy.

"We have a Central Florida Aerospace Academy in Lakeland (offered through Kathleen High), and another in Winter Haven (offered through Winter Haven High)," he said. "We’re still pursuing an air traffic control academy to be offered in the Bartow area."

According to a report in Avionics Interntional, the ATEC’s latest Pipeline Report, which tracks the number of rising AMTs, said the industry will need at least 20% more maintenance technicians than are currently being trained to meet projected workforce demand.

"Boeing, in its 2022–2041 Pilot and Technician Outlook, predicts 610,000 new aviation technicians will be needed globally through 2041, about a third of which will be needed in the U.S. to meet demand from fleet operators and providers of maintenance, repair and overhaul services.'"

“The combination of fleet growth, attrition and replacement will continue to drive high demand for [AMTs for] the foreseeable future,” according to Boeing in the AI report.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, spokeswoman Crystal Essiaw said, "The FAA is working to create a robust pipeline of skilled and diverse professionals coming into the industry and the agency. We know we must think differently about recruiting the next generation, and that includes continually making information available to them where they are and in a format they will embrace."

She added, that in 2023 the FAA awarded $10 million in grants to fund aviation classes at high schools to develop the next generation of workforce professionals. And, last year, the FAA awarded $5 million toward maintenance technician programs at high schools.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Amazon to partner with Lakeland school to train aircraft mechanics