10 week Bishop State program kicks off to train the next generation of Airbus employees

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A new program at Bishop State Community College kicking off Wednesday in partnership with Airbus.

The goal of the 10-week class is to get students ready to go for a career in aviation manufacturing.

This new program at Bishop State comes as Airbus looks to hire a thousand more people by 2025. The plane manufacturer says this class will help with that and the school is happy to be a part of it.

On Wednesday it was a busy first day for aviation manufacturing students at Bishop State. If participants play their cards right, they could be future Airbus employees.

“It’s going to be an experience, something very different than what I’ve ever done,” said Dianna Pierce.

Pierce is a former waitress. If she successfully moves through the program, she could soon be helping Airbus put planes together in Mobile.

“It seems like a long term, maybe retire from here one day,” she said. “It has everything I would be looking for in a job, it has great pay.”

After the 10-week class, the 50 students will transition to the Airbus apprenticeship program for 16 months where they will be full-time employees getting on-the-job training.

Michelle Hurdle from Airbus says programs like this help them find and train high-quality talent, especially as they look to go on a hiring spree over the next few years.

“This is one of the pipelines we’re creating, that along with our dual enrollment, along with our FlightPath 9 high school program,” she said. “These will be pipelines to get individuals directly employed by Airbus.”

Bishop State has partnerships with multiple companies to offer workforce training classes. Airbus is one of their newest and they are glad they are able to prepare students for their future.

“They’re getting the foundation for their apprenticeship as well as the training, plus the soft skills, just safety and stuff we’re really focusing on in each program,” said Daphne Stamps, Industry Liaison at Bishop State.

While it is only day one of the program, Aaron Coleman is looking forward to seeing what is ahead.

“Not really considering aviation before, but I’m excited to see what that would look like now because of this program,” he said.

The jobs Airbus would be offering these students are high-paying.

Bishop State says they plan to expand the class in the fall.

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