Caribbean Airlines has inducted into its Maintenance & Engineering fraternity, through the Technical Training Department, twenty (20) local candidates who will undergo an Apprenticeship Engineering Training Programme.
On 23 September 2009 at a media launch held at the airline’s Iere House head office in Parico, the programme was official opened by Works and Transport Minister, the Honourable Colm Imbert. The programme will offer four years of classroom instruction and “on-the-job” training at the airline’s hangars and workshops to students who went through a rigorous selection process. The programme is designed and structured to give candidates certification in TTCAA AMEL. (Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority Aircraft Maintenance Engineering License.)
Initiated and championed by Caribbean Airlines’ Executive Vice President Operations, Capt. Ian Brunton, the programme has the potential to preserve the business community as it will produce personnel who, in less than a decade, will be able to support and certify maintenance of aircraft within Caribbean Airlines. Captain Brunton further stated that, “the skilled manpower situation in M&E has always been under continuous assessment and it was realised that due to attrition, turnover and an ageing workforce there was not sufficient qualified and skilled human resource capacity to support Caribbean Airlines’ continued fleet expansion and scope of activities, resulting from network expansion and heavy maintenance.”
Given that there was an absence of approved local engineering /aviation licensing (AMEL) training providers and programmes and the additional cost of foreign training, Caribbean Airlines possessed competitive advantage because of the airline’s geographic positioning and competitive labour costs. The idea for this programme was also made possible as Caribbean Airlines possessed the institutional experience and management capability to successfully conduct this programme. Caribbean Airlines has engaged regional resources from The Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School (AWHWAES) in support of the vision of regionalization of aviation.