Academy of Aviation open house
Senior pilots salary of$450,000 draws interest from visitors
AIRPORT V VOICE, MARCH 2019 25
400 new jobs benefi t MWBE
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
today announced that more than half
of the nearly 400 new hires for jobs
ranging from cashiers to managers at
LaGuardia Airport’s new Terminal
B Concourse are residents of Queens
communities. Between August and
the end of December, Terminal B’s
concession partners hired 374 new
employees for the new concourse,
with 55 percent of those hires being
residents of Queens. The spacious
new concourse, housing 18 gates and
a wide array of world-class amenities,
became the fi rst part of the airport’s
$8 billion redevelopment, two-thirds
of which is privately fi nanced, to open
to passengers this past December. The
rebuilding of LaGuardia Airport has
also benefi tted Minority and Women
Owned Business Enterprises, who
have received a total of 849 contracts
with a combined value of nearly $1.15
billion.
“The transformation of LaGuardia
Airport is enhancing the overall travel
experience and creating jobs for local
residents,” said Lieutenant Governor
Kathy Hochul. “We’re committed to
making sure that the redevelopment
of the airport is providing new
opportunities for New Yorkers, and
continuing to grow the economy of the
LT. GOV. KATHY HOCHUL AND QUEENS
BORO PRESIDENT MELINDA KATZ HAVE
WORKED HARD FOR LGA HIRING.
entire State of New York.”
The Council for Airport Opportunity
(CAO), together with the LaGuardia
Community Outreach team, partnered
with LaGuardia Gateway Partners
and concession operators HMSHost,
SSP America, Hudson Group and
the Marshall Retail Group to ensure
Queens residents were given ample
opportunity to join their workforces.
Delta Air Lines, which is building a
new Terminal C on the eastern side
of the airport to replace the existing
Terminals C & D, is also working with
CAO and its concession operators to
target local hires as new jobs become
available.
The Academy of Aviation
(AOA) located at Republic
Airport in Farmingdale
hosted an open house to talk
about its programs and careers
in aviation to high school
students, airport workers and
retirees or those seeking a
career change and or plain old
aviation enthusiasts.
When VP of AOA Frank
Delia stated in his opening
remarked that a senior pilot
at a major airlines makes
$450,000 a year, all ears perked
up. He said that aviation is
“exploding worldwide” and
that this was the high end
of the pay scale but also said
that attending their AOA
fl ight school for their two year
certifi cate programs is the
beginning of this potential.
According to Delia, ”we
have airline recruiters here
that provide a “fl ow” into
regional airlines that can
lead to lucrative jobs after
a few years of working with
regionals such as Endeavor
,Republic and Envoy. He said
that although some people
want a four year education
majoring in aviation, “you
don’t have to take an additional
two years to make a great
living.” A typical salary for a
15 year Captain at a national
commercial airline is about
$250,000
As Delia spoke, aircraft
of various sizes passed by
the large conference room
window overlooking the
airfi eld. This dynamic and
up close backdrop added to
the excitement the potential
students were feeling as seen
by the nudges and smiles on
their faces.
One of the questions asked
by a prospective student was
why there is a pilot shortage
that he had heard about in the
news. Delia was delighted to
answer that and said that this
was a great time to consider a
pilot career. He said that there
are a few reasons. “ One is the
growth of the fl ying public.
There are now 3 million people
in the air over the US every
day with current airlines
needing more people, and
newer private jets need more
pilots. Another reason is that
more of the commercial airline
are downsizing their planes
and need more pilots to fi ll
the larger number of smaller
aircraft. It takes (2) crews
of 19 people just to operate a
standard size commercial jet.
“so”, he said the “ demand is
high and this is a good time to
begin a pilot’s career”.
Delia also mentioned that
the position of the school at
Republic Airport was good
because they have ties with
regional recruiters, have
their planes to teach, and
a large facility within an
airport with many companies
hiring pilots for these hi-end
private jets. AOA also offers
local resources such as lots
of important information to
share about the industry, local
housing and “the straight
scoop” on careers in aviation.
Most of the attendees
were younger people looking
for career opportunities but
there were a couple others
that included an aviation
maintenance man and a
retired police detective. One
individual in his late 40’s
stated that he “always wanted
to fl y” and was now in a
position to look at changing
careers. The retired policeman
said that he just wanted to
do this for a while but also
wanted to take “slow courses”
so that he and his 15 year old
could experience learning to
fl y together and set a possible
career path for his son.
ATTENDEES OF THE ACADEMY OF AVIATION OPEN HOUSE HAVE A
CHANCE TO LOOK AT ONF OF THEIR AIRCRAFT IN FRONT OF THE AIR
TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER AT REPUBLIC AIRPORT.
LGA Terminal B hires
CONDOLENCES
Sympathy to the family, friends and business
associates of the THREE ATLAS AIR CREW
members aboard Flight 5Y3591 which crashed
in Texas during a regular cargo flight,
ALAN DIETL, husband of Jayne Dietl and
brother of Beau Dietl, passed away. He was
partner with his wife Jayne in their airport vending
business “ My dearest husband, you will be
missed by all”
Hawaiian flight attendant EMILE GRIFFITH
passed away on one of his working flights from
Honolulu to JFK Airport.60-year-old Griffith
worked for the airline for more than 30 years.
CONGRATULATIONS:
MIKE DUFFY and Mike Simpson will become Executive Vice President
Innovation and Executive Vice President Americas respectively,
reporting to Craig Smyth, CEO of Worldwide Flight Services.
KENIX WANG has been promoted to VP Cargo, Worldwide Flight
Services, JFK. He has been with WFS for 10 years
JENNIFER ALCAZAR traveled to Cambodian good will trip on behalf
of JFK Rotarians to bring needed supplies to children’s schools.
PHILIPPE GILBERT appointed as President, UPS Supply Chain Solutions.
JOHN PEARSON has officially taken over as the new chief executive
of DHL Express.
American Airlines promoted KEVIN BRICKNER to senior vice president
of Technical Operations and Captain Ron Thomas to vice president
of Safety.
Alan Dietl