Jobs of the Future: Aviation bursary program ‘strikes a fine balance’ between educational, labour needs

Chas Eveson admits aviation doesn’t always do a great job of promoting the industry’s many career opportunities.

Most people are familiar with the public-facing roles of pilots and flight attendants, he noted, but fewer understand the work of those behind the scenes who keep the airplanes running smoothly.

Yet those tradespeople are in extremely high demand at companies like Voyageur Aviation in North Bay, where Eveson is vice-president of maintenance and engineering.

“The trades are experiencing, across the board, a slow-down, or less people being involved or going into the trades, and aviation is not immune to that fact,” Eveson said.

“If anything, it’s probably more impacted, because aviation does a poor job of marketing it as a career path.”​

​A 2018 Labour Market Information Report prepared by the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace estimated the aviation industry will need 55,000 workers by 2025. Along with pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers are the occupation most in demand, but the need is felt across the industry.

Depending on their area of expertise, aircraft maintenance technicians might replace a part, overhaul the structure of a plane, or upgrade its communications and navigation systems.

“There’s no shortage of work across the industry,” Eveson said. “Aviation as a whole has seen a large influx of work, even through COVID.”

Voyageur, a subsidiary of Chorus Aviation since 2015, offers a unique set of services including airline operations; aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul; aircraft part sales and logistics management; and aircraft leasing.

In the last few years alone, Voyageur landed a contract with the Department of Defence to refurbish the military’s fleet of Dash aircraft, and with Connect Airlines providing parts and service to the Toronto-based firm.

“We do very unique things with aircraft, so we’re protected from downturns in passenger traffic,” Eveson said.

Across the company, Voyageur employs 400 people, and within North Bay that number is between 200 and 230, he noted.

But the company could easily add another 30 skilled tradespeople to its North Bay facility, Eveson added.

This spring, Voyageur decided to tackle its labour force challenges head on, launching the Pathway Bursary Program, a unique initiative aimed at attracting area high school students into aviation maintenance careers.

Developed in-house, the program will pay for the full tuition for six students enrolled in one of three eligible courses offered at Canadore College: the one-year Aircraft Structural Repair Technician program, the two-year Avionics Technician – Aircraft Maintenance program, and the two-year Aviation Technician – Aircraft Maintenance program.

Tuition fees vary between the programs, but a domestic student can expect to pay between $4,800 and $9,900 to study in one of the courses, which leaves Voyageur with an annual commitment of roughly $29,000 to $59,000, if the full complement of six students is met.

In addition, Voyageur will provide students with summer employment and mentorship from its aircraft maintenance engineers through the school term. Upon graduation, students are guaranteed an offer of full-time work at Voyageur’s North Bay facility.

Eveson said there’s currently no end date for the program, although it might be tweaked as the company evaluates its labour needs.

“The way we see this is, we’re really hiring these people; we’re offering them jobs right from the get-go, so we’re very in tune with the onboarding, in terms of the interview processes, résumé reviews. So we’re very hands on in that aspect,” Eveson said.

“It’s really supporting our long-term future, so we hold a lot of stake in seeing that this program is successful at the end of the day.”

While some organizations host apprenticeship programs and others set up student bursaries, few companies offer an incentive package with wraparound student support on the scale that Voyageur is offering.

Eveson said the idea first emerged about five years ago when the company conducted a demographics study to learn more about where its long-term employees were coming from.

The results showed that the majority hailed from North Bay or similar-sized rural cities and communities in the North.

So the company decided to play to that strength, and looked to collaborate with its neighbour in the Jack Garland Airport Industrial Park where Canadore College operates its aviation campus.

“It made sense to partner with Canadore College being in the same city as us, and looking to attract interest from the high schools and the new generation, as we’re looking to expand and grow the operation here in North Bay,” Eveson said.

Voyageur representatives have spent the last two years visiting high schools, reaching out to postsecondary institutions across Ontario, and attending tradeshows to get the word out about the bursary program.

The inaugural cohort of six students just completed its first year this past spring and is now working with Voyageur through the summer before returning for the second semester this fall.

“I thought it would take probably a year or two before we hit full capacity, but I was very surprised that right out of the gate we were able to fill those seats,” Eveson said.

He believes the bursary program “strikes a fine balance” between benefitting the students, who get a paid education, mentorship, experience, and employment, and benefitting the company, which gets its labour needs met.

“For the long-term growth of the organization, this is just one of the tools that we’re looking to employ to hit the final numbers that we’re trying to bring in,” Eveson said.