Business Aviation's Hook for Recruiting New Workers

At the first joint session of NBAA’s Maintenance Conference and Flight Attendants/Flight Technicians Conference today in Fort Worth, Texas, president and CEO Ed Bolen said it’s an exciting time in the aerospace and business aviation industries. He cited the development of private commercial spaceflight by companies such as SpaceX and supersonic flight by others such as Aerion Corp. And those developments, Bolen said, can be used to business aviation’s advantage as it looks to recruit its next generation of workers. “We’re going to be part of things that can give us a hook as we try to bring in new talent,” he explained.

Business aviation workforce recruitment and development has been a consistent theme of Bolen’s speeches at NBAA events in recent months. But this time, Bolen pointed to the industry's many qualities that could appeal to younger generations: technology, such as working with avionics and cabin connectivity; experiences, such as travel; a career that offers purpose, by way of using airplanes to assist people affected by disasters and through programs such as the Corporate Angel Network; professional growth opportunities; and the feeling of belonging to a community that Bolen said is unique to the industry. “We’ve got good talking points because we’ve got a great industry,” he said. “The message is there, but we need to tell it at a grassroots level.”