Alaska Airlines and AAR create educational partnership

WOOD DALE - AAR Corp. is teaming up with Alaska Airlines to create a pipeline for qualified airline maintenance technicians for the Seattle-based airline.

The Flow Through Program is the first of its kind between an airline and an aviation services provider to focus on education and career training and recruit new workers from diverse backgrounds, AAR said.

"We are in a unique position to strengthen the talent pipeline through recruitment of groups historically underrepresented in aviation," said Nathan Engel, interim vice president of Maintenance & Engineering at Alaska Airlines. "AAR has made incredible strides with its focus on recruiting diverse candidates, and this partnership is an example of how we're working to meet our diversity, equity and inclusion goals to diversify our talent pool."

Wood Dale-based AAR is a leading provider of aviation maintenance services. The nation's airlines rely on professional maintenance technicians to ensure airplanes safely and compliantly travel across the country, but demand for qualified airline maintenance technicians (AMT) will outpace supply as early as 2022, the company said.

Over the next 20 years, Boeing forecasts 739,000 technicians are needed globally, and 192,000 are needed in North America alone.

"The aviation maintenance technician shortage continues to grow as so many are retiring or leaving the business," said Stan Mayer, general manager at AAR Airframe Maintenance in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.