AAR Aircraft Services: More Aircraft Mechanics Needed in Duluth

Oct. 7, 2013
The additional 40 workers are needed to ramp up the base operations in Duluth to fulfill AAR's five-year contract with Air Canada.

Oct. 07--When AAR Aircraft Services launched operations at the former Northwest Airlines Maintenance Base in Duluth last November, the company said it would create 225 jobs within the first year.

Ten months in, the company has crushed those numbers.

It has 276 workers with plans to hire 40 more.

But the Illinois-based company -- which operates five maintenance, repair and overhaul bases, or MROs, around the country for commercial airline jets -- is finding it increasingly difficult to find the licensed aircraft mechanics it needs in Duluth.

The company typically has 25 percent temporary contract workers at its maintenance bases to allow for changing workloads. But in Duluth, 40 percent of the work force are contract workers from around the country, company officials said last week.

Most of those 100 temporary workers are the much-in-demand airplane mechanics with airframe and power-plant license certification who make up more than half of the work force.

"Our first choice is full-time employees, but unfortunately we need them now," said Mark Ketterer, the base's director of maintenance. "It's hard to find the expertise we're looking for. We have pretty much exhausted the local expertise."

Northwest Airlines had operated the 188,000-square-foot maintenance base from the early 1990s to 2005 when it moved out, putting hundreds out of work. Those displaced workers were seen as potential AAR hires.

While some were hired by AAR, that pool has dried up.

"The Northwest people moved on to another career, another city," Ketterer said. "They're just not out there to pull from."

So the search for the needed aircraft mechanics expanded to the Twin Cities and beyond, to state jobsites, the AAR network and agencies that provide contract workers from different points on the map.

"They're coming to us from all over the country," Ketterer said of the contract workers. "There's a lot of contract houses who supply labor for us and are very specialized. We're looking for very specific skills."

Many have worked for airline maintenance bases that have closed down as part of an industry trend of airlines outsourcing the heavy maintenance checks on their planes to companies like AAR.

Many of AAR's temporary workers don't want to be with one company for long and like the flexibility of moving around. Others want to check out a place first before committing to a company and a location, Ketterer said.

Ramping up

The contract workers are needed to ramp up the base operations in Duluth. That's critical to fulfill AAR's five-year contract with Air Canada, doing the industry-required checks on its fleet of 90 Airbus A319, A320 and A321 series jets. The servicing takes seven to 45 days per plane.

"We are pretty much booked solid with them," Ketterer said of Air Canada planes, the base's sole customer. "One leaves, one comes in."

AAR started with the first of four maintenance lines in the base hangar in late November, followed by a second line in February. The third line started in early September. Each line works on one plane at a time in two 10-hour shifts, seven days a week.

"We wanted to bring the third line in earlier but didn't have the manpower," Ketterer said.

But that third line isn't fully staffed yet.

"We're very, very lean," Ketterer said. "So we all wear a lot of hats."

A temporary fourth line also is operating on a plane that needs major repair, Ketterer said.

"We can't really do more than four because we can't fit more in the hangar," he said. "And I don't think Air Canada can pull more out of their schedule."

Keeping workers

AAR wants those contract workers to stay in Duluth, in jobs that start at $30,000 to $80,000 a year.

"We're in the process of trying to convince contract employees to make this their full-time place and to live in Duluth," Ketterer said.

Some have. But many are from the South and find Northland winters too tough.

"They love the summertime weather, here," he said. "Winter, they're not quite used to."

While contract workers provide flexibility with fluctuating workloads, AAR wants to get the percentage down from 40 percent to 25 percent in Duluth.

"We'll always have a need for some contractors," said Jennie Sage, AAR's human resources manager. "Some chose short term, some long term. If they like the city, the workplace and the management, they're going to stick around."

Contract workers, who sign up for six-month or 12-month stints, rent apartments or have extended stays in local hotels or motels.

"They complain there's not enough affordable housing, temporary or permanent," Ketterer said.

Permanent employees tend to have a different experience.

"Our permanent AAR employees are finding homes and apartments, and they love it here," Ketterer said. "They seem to like it, they seem to like the city. Yeah, it's cold but they're from all over, including Michigan where there's an A&P (airframe and power-plant) school."

Efforts are underway to locally supply the licensed aircraft mechanics needed by AAR and the Twin Ports growing aviation sector. A two-year program on airframe and power-plant mechanics is being developed at Lake Superior College in Duluth and is targeted to launch next fall. And AAR is partnering with Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls, which offers specialized aviation maintenance training.

As for the qualified aircraft mechanics still out there who haven't applied because they were unsure about AAR's future in Duluth, Ketterer wants to assure them.

"We're here," he said. "We're not going anywhere. That's what we have to get out to those people. There's a lot of old mechanics out there we'd love to have back."

With Air Canada alone, AAR has the workload to bring the base to full capacity with four fully staffed lines. So with enough qualified people, the base's work force could grow to 360 people, Ketterer said.

"If we had more space, we could certainly work on other people's aircrafts, too, but that's way down the road," Ketterer said. "As we look to the future, there's certainly room here to build another hangar."

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