HELP WANTED | Aviation job fair landing new recruits to answer growing need for technicians

[Editor’s note: This is the fourth report in our multipart series “Help Wanted,” in which Mahoning Matters will review labor shortages in Mahoning County’s top employment sectors, focusing on jobs that are difficult to fill, have high turnover or are otherwise in high demand. Nationwide, 4.3 million people quit their jobs in December 2021 alone, according to federal data. This report focuses on aircraft maintenance jobs; future articles will focus on manufacturing, health care and other sectors. Have something to say about local employment rates or in-demand jobs? Email us at news@mahoningmatters.com, send us a confidential tip here or call us toll-free at 888-655-1012.]

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Aviation maintenance technician jobs are in high demand, to keep planes flying and aircraft equipment running on a regional and national scale, local employers told Mahoning Matters.

The Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics’ local campus at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna Township on Thursday hosted a career fair for students in the aeronautics program to talk with local, regional and national aircraft companies about job opportunities after graduation.

Bill Vuletich of Austintown, a first-semester student in the program, said he has six years of prior experience in aircraft maintenance as a fighter jet mechanic in the United States Air Force.

“I am trying to get back to working on planes,” he said. “I want to help keep the planes in the sky so people can travel. I’m mechanically inclined already so this is something that really speaks to me.”

Vuletich said he expects to graduate in April 2023 and is now looking at his long-term career goals, like building a good 401K and being able to move up within a company.

“It’s a promising career because everyone is going to be traveling,” he said. “It’s a challenging program and what you’re going to put into it is what you’re going to get out of it.”

Dakota Pugh graduated from the program in 2019 and started working for Republic Airways as an aircraft maintenance technician. He returned to his former school to recruit technicians and show them the day-to-day maintenance that’s involved, along with the rewards that come with the job.

“Being able to see students coming to literally the same job fair that I went through three years ago is amazing,” he said. “I know we offer slightly on the higher end for salary, and our flight benefits are the best in the industry.”

Pugh said the airline is not currently experiencing a serious technician shortage, but it’s now hiring about 30 technicians a month to keep up with the industry’s demand.

“That is a high number for hiring and it’s a trend we have seen throughout the past 10 years,” he said.

Pugh said he hopes to continue to move upward within the company.

“It’s a fluid industry and tech is constantly advancing, and Republic Airways is all about promoting from within the company. … The industry is constantly booming,” he said.

Joe DeRamo, campus director, said the maintenance technician shortage has deepened within the last five or six years, due to increased air travel and an aging workforce.

“Where we see some jobs that are slowing down like retail, those jobs are being replaced by internet shopping like Amazon, and it has to force those products to be shipped,” he said. “Mechanics [in the field] are very close to the retirement age, so it’s hard for them to [retire] because we don’t have a lot of students that are young in the workforce replacing them.”

Douglas McCartney, a SkyWest Airlines representative from South Bend, Indiana, said the airline has 13 different maintenance locations where graduates can move to work. He said younger employees are not following through with job opportunities, compounding the airline’s worker shortage.

“It’s unfortunate because we’ll offer people jobs and they just don’t show up,” McCartney said. “We’ll plan for them to be there and they won’t show up. So we’ll contact them and they won’t respond.”

McCartney said he believes it’s a generational shift in career priorities and in how people are choosing to spend their time, compared to when he started as an aviation technician years ago.

“The bad thing about it is aviation is a small world, so don’t close doors on yourself, because you never know when you might need them,” he said.

DeRamo said the aviation industry has a lot of open doors right now for students looking to work not just for commercial or corporate airlines, but for companies that have large equipment in need of maintenance.

“They can actually go work for amusement parks taking care of rides because it’s very similar to working on an aircraft,” he said. “You have inspections, non-destructive testing, cables, dealing with different kinds of metals, troubleshooting and dealing with different kinds of electronics.”

DeRamo said about 50 to 60 students had interviews lined up during the career fair and 40 are expected to have job offers by the end of the week.

“My concern really is that we try to make sure we are recruiting and open for a diverse population,” he said. “There is definitely opportunity for women in aviation, that’s a big thing we recruit for.”

There’s a small number of women who work hands-on in the field compared to men, DeRamo said. Only 2.6% of aircraft mechanics are women, according to Federal Aviation Administration data from December 2020.

DeRamo said Ohio ranks fifth nationwide for supplying aviation aerospace supplies to major airline manufacturers.

“We sit in the middle of a triangle: Akron-Canton, Cleveland and Pittsburgh have airports,” he said. “A lot of the components and parts [for aircrafts] come from Ohio, so there are plenty of opportunities in the state.”

Airline employers like SkyWest and Delta offer free airline tickets for employees and their families, along with competitive 401K matches and medical benefits, DeRamo said.

“The pay in our area might be slightly below what the national average is, but what we’re seeing with our students is about a $24-an-hour starting salary, plus free flights and a lot of benefits,” he said. “Delta has a 9% match on their [retirement program].”

The average national salary for aircraft mechanics is nearly $51,059 whereas the annual salary for a mechanic in Youngstown is $41,677, according to ZipRecruiter.