Quote:
Originally Posted by bartman  What kind of background would be best for that job? Did you have Aviation Management courses prior to getting into it? I would really like to get into an aviation-related job but can't see myself going through the training->CFI->regional route at this point in my career. |
I started at ERAU Prescott as an aero science major and transferred to SIU after 2 1/2 years and I ended up getting a degree in Aviation Management. I was planning on doing the pilot thing and CFI'd for a little while along with being a ramper at SkyWest. The ramp job gave me a pretty good insight into the daily lives of the pilots there, and I got the feeling that the lifestyle wasn't really for me.
So here's how the "route" to airport management sort of works (like flying, there's a bunch of ways to get there, but this is a solid one). The entry level jobs are in airport operations, such as an operations coordinator, officer, or something like that. You can find them on
www.aaae.org among other sites. I applied for every one that came up for months before I started some interviewing. Luckily, I got hired in a county department that was close to where I lived, so it was commutable. The pay isn't great, but these are typically county or city jobs, so the benefits and retirement are excellent. In addition to the operations officer duties, I was also trained as an aircraft rescue firefighter since we performed that function as well (lots of fun). After the entry-level, you can usually start applying for supervisor positions pretty quickly. With some supervisory experience, moving to an assistant manager type position is usually next and then on to Manager (or director or whatever they happen to call it). You can do quite well at larger airports even in just the operations positions, but it seems to take longer to move up the food chain in those places. At smaller airports like where I started out, the pay is lower but the opportunity for advancement seems to come quicker.
I was able to move into a manager position fairly quickly (timing and luck) and have since moved on to a very nice FAA job. I still fly for fun on the weekends and I've really enjoyed the path I chose. That's probably all a little confusing, fire away with any questions.