Airlines to bring job training programs to Chicago as they search for more mechanics

Airlines are gearing up for their next big hiring need: airplane mechanics. And to meet that need, some are bringing new job training programs to Chicago.

Changing plane technology, a wave of pandemic exits and, in some cases, an anticipated uptick in the number of planes in the sky have left some airlines searching for ways to boost the pipeline of available plane mechanics.

If airlines fall short of maintenance technicians, passengers are likely to experience more flight delays, industry analyst Bob Mann said. And even if airlines are able to get new mechanics into training programs, the need for experienced technicians likely won’t go away anytime soon, he said.

Airlines have also faced other, more immediate hiring needs, contending at times this year not only with their own staff shortages but with staffing limitations in airports and air traffic control towers that they have said posed challenges. The upcoming holiday travel season follows a busy summer marked by flyers eager to get out after years of delayed travel, high prices, canceled flights and delays that left passengers sitting in airports or on the tarmac.

Carriers this year hired thousands of people to work in maintenance, at airports and in other roles as they recover from the pandemic. The industry has faced a pilot shortage since before the pandemic, and some airlines already have partnerships and training programs to try to build a pool of aspiring pilots.

American and United airlines, which both operate major hubs at O’Hare International Airport, are now also creating programs geared toward aspiring mechanics.

Chicago-based United is beginning an apprenticeship program intended to boost and diversify mechanics in the pipeline, the airline announced Wednesday. The carrier started a similar program to boost and diversify the pipeline of pilots when it purchased a flight training academy that opened this year.

For now, the carrier’s mechanic pipeline is strong, said Kate Gebo, executive vice president of human resources and labor relations, during a call with reporters. But United last year announced it would order 270 new planes, and intends to hire 7,000 maintenance technicians by 2026 to support the new planes. The airline is also expecting many retirements, she said.

“While the pipeline is good now, two and three and four years out we want to make sure that that pipeline remains for us,” Gebo said.

The new, 36-month apprenticeship program allows participants, who get paid while attending, to undergo training needed to test for certification from the Federal Aviation Administration and receive mentorship from United technicians. It’s open to people with high school diplomas.

The first class of internal employees will begin next week in Houston, and the program will open for external applications in early 2023. It will also expand to other cities, and United expects to bring the program to Chicago in the third quarter of next year.

United plans to train more than 1,000 people through the program by 2026, with a goal that at least half will be women or people of color.

American Airlines in October announced a partnership with the Chicago campus of the Aviation Institute of Maintenance. The partnership provides top candidates from the school with guaranteed interviews at the airline, and offers students access to American’s maintenance facilities.

The Chicago partnership comes after the carrier in 2019 opened a large maintenance hangar at O’Hare.

American is also not seeing a shortage of mechanics yet, but many employees left the company or retired during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Evie Garces, vice president of line maintenance.

“We’re trying to avoid that shortage,” she said.

American hired more than 600 maintenance technicians in 2022, and is looking to hire several hundred more next year, she said. Before the pandemic, the carrier saw more demand for maintenance jobs than job openings.

Part of the anticipated need for more maintenance technicians could be coming from the way the job has changed for many of the longest-tenured technicians, Mann said. Airplane technology has evolved, meaning mechanics need a new set of skills. In some cases technicians’ working conditions have also evolved, like changes in the way scheduling works, he said.

As a skilled, experienced workforce has aged out or elected to leave, airlines might have trouble convincing prospective new employees that work on planes, where they are exposed to all types of weather, is more appealing than work in an air-conditioned car shop, Mann said.

Even if they do hire, the level of experience matters, including familiarity with specific types of planes. And that can take several years to build, he said.

“Anyone can be a Formula 1 mechanic,” he said, drawing a comparison to top-tier car racing. “Just only the good ones are going to produce Formula 1 winners.”

Garces said American has retained experienced employees who can help newer workers. Even with the hundreds of new hires this year, the average American mechanic has 21 years with the company, she said.

It’s rare for an airline to identify a cancellation as being due to a mechanical problem, Mann said. But mechanical problems often lead to delays.

“This all requires people, whether it’s third party or union staff,” he said. “Just from the top down, there aren’t enough of them and it is resulting in delays.”

sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com