Riverbend Building Aviation Career Pipeline

Aug. 24—COLLINSVILLE — While Boeing dominates the St. Louis region's aviation industry, it and other companies are expanding in Illinois and creating hundreds of jobs throughout the Metro East.

Making people aware of that — and the opportunities created by the aviation industry in the Metro East — was one of the key points of an "Aviation Industry Update" sponsored by the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois on Tuesday in Collinsville.

"This is a career," Kyle Anderson, executive director of the Leadership Council said about jobs in the aviation industry. "This isn't just something you do part-time. It's a career you can grow in, grow your salary in and provide a nice, comfortable living."

Earlier this month, Anderson told Madison County officials the aviation industry has a "huge" economic impact on the area. He noted that both West Star Aviation at St. Louis Regional Airport and Gulfstream at St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia have major facilities and are expanding, adding that Boeing is constructing a $200 million facility to build drones for the U.S. Navy at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport.

"Gulfstream just made an announcement, 200 jobs. West Star just made an announcement of 85 jobs. And Boeing has an additional 300 jobs on top of that," Anderson said Tuesday. "In talking to these companies, that talent pipeline isn't always there."

Part of the reason for Tuesday's Aviation Industry Update, he said, was "raising an awareness of the aviation ecosystem we have here to get people aware of it and excited about it."

Aviation jobs growing

Brian Bauwens, general manager at West Star Aviation, said raising awareness is important, especially because of the company's expansion.

"We are building a new, 40,000-square-foot hanger," he said. "We have just under 600 reporting to the facility. It's our main headquarters so we have our corporate office there."

Of those employees, about 400 are mechanics and front-line workers, he said. The rest are in support.

"What is sometimes lost as you cross the river into Illinois is that aviation has a mixed presence, both in the greater St. Louis area and Southern Illinois," said Joe Meyer, a Boeing official who works out of Scott Air Force Base.

He noted the firm's new production facility is up and expected to open sometime in the fourth quarter of 2023.

"We'll begin to hire up to 300 employees in the local area," he said. That is in addition to the approximately 16,000 people currently working on both sides of the Mississippi River.

Unique set of skills

Meyer and others on Tuesday said one concern is developing the necessary skills needed for their somewhat specialized workforce.

Some of that workforce comes from the military. Madison County Employment and Training partners with West Star on apprenticeship programs.

Locally, only Southwestern Illinois College has a training program for aircraft mechanics. MCET Director Tony Fuhrmann said SWIC cannot fill the entire need for the Metro East, let alone aviation jobs in Missouri or outlying areas.

"SWIC has the only program, and they can train about 50 airplane mechanics a year," he said. "The demand is going to be about 200 mechanics a year. So we're having a conversation with Lewis and Clark (Community College)."

In addition to a potential L&C program, there is also discussion about starting high-school level aviation vocational programs at Collinsville Area Vocational Center and The Center for Academic and Vocational Excellence (The CAVE) in the Belleville Township High School District.

Fuhrman noted that, as West Star and other aviation companies expand, workforce becomes a bigger issue.

"Figure out the dollars sitting in each one of those hangars," he said of West Star. "They've just broke ground for an additional hangar as their business continues to grow in this area."

Meyer said hiring locally is important.

"Boeing in this area really likes to recruit from this area," he said. "That's how you create retention and develop from within. If they have families here and they have other ties to the community other than just Boeing it makes it a little easier."

For information about employment and workforce training opportunities, call 618-296-4301, visit the Madison County website at https://www.co.madison.il.us/ or visit the department's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MCETD.

___

Visit The Telegraph (Alton, Ill.) at www.thetelegraph.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.