Mayor: Airbus teaches employees variety of skills

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - If you want to land a position with Airbus in Mobile, you should learn how to do more than one job.

That's the word from Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, who was in Hamburg, Germany on Tuesday, taking a tour of the assembly there as part of a week-long trip.

The mayor was joined by four members of the Mobile City Council and the three members of the Mobile County Commission.

Getting a piece of the pie

The Airbus assembly plant in Mobile is expected to employ about 1,000 workers, but how can you get in that number?

Jones said, from what he's observed while watching Airbus operations in Germany, those interested should start learning to diversify.

Jones said, "Different from some other corporations, Airbus cross-trains all of their employees.  Any employee they have can do almost any job on the assembly of the airplane, so, it’s not just a one discipline training.  The person who can do electronic, can also do mechanical, can also do structure."

Overseas training

Of course, to do that, you'll need training. The Mobile delegation also toured the Airbus Training Center in Hamburg, Germany.

County Commissioner Connie Hudson talked about what impressed her as she toured the facility. She said technology plays an important role there.

She said, "They use a virtual reality program that's very interactive, and people can come in and train on the maintenance of these aircraft, and, basically, do it in this virtual reality situation.  And, they do it for several weeks before they actually do any hands on."

Training in Mobile

Some of the training in Mobile will be provided by AIDT, a division of the Alabama Department of Commerce; it will take place close to the Airbus site.

Jones said, "They are in concert with Airbus, and Airbus is setting up with them a schedule. They're in the process of building a new training facility at Brookley. That facility is already on the way, the construction of that facility."

Hudson said the training facility she saw will be exactly the kind AIDT is going to be building at Brookley for the A-320s aircraft.

She said, "They have 13 classrooms, from 12 to 15 students in a classroom, and the program lasts about six weeks, I think they said, and they're apparently in high demand. There are jobs waiting when they come out."

More Airbus headlines, interactives

The Mobile delegation is expected to be back on Wednesday, and FOX10 News will talk more with the mayor and others about what they learned on that trip.

Here are links to the websites for AIDT and Airbus, where you can find more information on jobs and training:

http://www.airbus.com/work/experienced-candidates/opportunities-in-the-usa/

https://jobs.aidt.edu/index.php?tid=9979;fa=view;www=1