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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

American Airlines Expands Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tech Ops Hub

08/29/2019
American Airlines is expanding the work conducted at the world's largest commercial aviation base maintenance facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The project will require 400 additional team members.

According to company officials, Over the next few months, additional maintenance work will be sent to Tech Ops — Tulsa, including scheduled maintenance work on the Boeing 787 fleet. This work will require the skills of more than 400 new Tech Ops team members in various areas to assist with the additional work coming to the base.

"This is the first time in more than a decade that we've hired this many team members simultaneously, which underscores our long-term commitment to Tulsa," said Erik Olund, Managing Director of Base Maintenance for American. "The Tulsa team continues to do great work by ensuring the safe operation of our fleet, and we look forward to bringing more of our aircraft to the base."

"For 73 years, American has operated the largest commercial aviation maintenance base in the world here in Tulsa," said City of Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum. "This announcement not only reaffirms American's continuing commitment to Tulsa, but also the great benefit our community receives from investments like this. I'm grateful to the hard-working team at American for their partnership and am excited to see the impact of this work."

"Today's announcement from American Airlines that it will soon add 400 more jobs, including positions for licensed aircraft mechanics, is another great example of American's seven-decade commitment to its Tulsa operations, our local workforce and the wider community," said Mike Neal, President & CEO of the Tulsa Regional Chamber. "To say the least, we are thrilled with the announcement and the new maintenance opportunities it signals. We at the Tulsa Regional Chamber will continue to work side by side with American as it continues to grow its operations in our region."

The new team members, primarily Federal Aviation Administration-licensed mechanics, will focus on various maintenance areas, including aircraft overhaul, landing gear overhaul for the Boeing 737 and 777 aircraft, CFM56 engine maintenance and Airbus A321 interior modifications, officials said. In late 2019, the base will receive their first 787 aircraft to undergo scheduled maintenance checks. Additionally, the base will increase its 777 and 787 maintenance work, and will make investments into the Landing Gear Shop enabling greater production.

More than 5,200 people currently work at the base, which is the largest commercial aircraft maintenance facility in the world with 22 buildings on the main base, including 3.3 million square feet of hangar and shop space sitting on 330 acres. American performs more maintenance work in-house than any other airline, and employs more than 15,000 Tech Ops professionals around the world.

American said it is dedicated to promoting the Tech Ops industry and creating employment opportunities, now and in the future, for Tulsa. Tech Ops – Tulsa, which has been ingrained in the Tulsa community since 1946, has a long history of supporting STEM-related initiatives with many partners in the region. This includes a partnership with OK2GROW, a business driven workforce development and career pathways nonprofit focused on entrepreneurship, high school completion and career awareness activities.

American also supports hands-on learning and building a trained workforce pipeline with the previous donation of the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft, which will soon retire from the fleet Sept. 4, to Oklahoma State University, Tulsa Technology Center and the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.

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