Ascent Aviation Services has a 15 year contract with Israel Aerospace Industries to complete passenger to freighter conversions on Boeing 777 planes.
The project not only means two new hangars are needed, but also over 300 workers.
Construction on the two new hangars at Pinal Airpark is already underway. One of the hangars is expected to be completed at the end of September, while the second one is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Ascent Aviation’s Chief Commercial Officer, Scott Butler said this project will require many different types of jobs. He said, “Jobs will be ranging anywhere from touch labor, to back office support, to quality support and everything in between.”
The company has already started their hiring process. They have also launched an apprenticeship program, which they have plans to continue.
“Part of the challenge is finding the skilled labor in order to accommodate this many jobs in such a short amount of time, so we’ve actually started our own apprenticeship program, which kicked off earlier this year and we’ve already graduated a class through it,” Butler said.
The hundreds of employees will be working to give a second life to the passenger aircraft.
“It involves literally stripping the entire interior of an aircraft out, reinforcing the whole steel structure, cutting an actual cargo door into the aircraft, reinforcing and replugging in… all the systems and modifications that we have to do,” Butler said.
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Madison Thomas joined KGUN 9 in July of 2023 as a multimedia journalist. She graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2023 with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She has lived in Arizona her entire life and grew up in Douglas. Madison is thrilled to share the stories from the community she grew up in. Share your story ideas and important issues with Madison by emailing madison.thomas@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
