Freelance
News Service
Aviation is an Economic Powerhouse in the
Bay Area
By William Cracraft
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The Bay Area is one of the greatest air hubs in the world and there are thousands of jobs at each of the three major airports in a three-county area.
San Francisco International Airport is the 800-pound gorilla of San Mateo County. The airport generates $6.8 billion a year in personal income, supports 229,400 area jobs, and there are 30,200 people working there now.
SFIA is fulfilling a master plan to bring the airport up to speed with the demands of the 21st century. The Pacific Rim, including China and Japan, is the fastest growing market for air transportation in the world. By 2000, the Pacific Rim is expected to account for 40 percent of the world’s passenger air traffic.
"The International Terminal is about halfway done. It was started in mid-1995, so were just about half way," said Ron Wilson, SFIA spokesman. Structures seemed to spring from the ground over the last few months and Wilson said the contraction is proceeding according to plan Construction managers are being held to assigned completion dates. "We have a pretty tight schedule and we place demands on them to maintain that schedule," said Wilson.
Currently SFIA is the fifth busiest in country and eighth in the world in terms of passenger movement. It handles 95 percent of international 62 percent of domestic air travel in the Bay Area Market. The reasons for the expansion are obvious. SFIA moved seven million international passengers in 1996 and will move 12 million by 2006. It moved 38 million in 1996 and will increase to 51 million passengers in 2006.
Delays were occurring at peak hours at Customs and Immigration check points, more aircraft were waiting for gates and auto gridlock on and around the airport were getting worse. The master plan is a $2.4 billion program slated for completion in 2002.
The construction will generate jobs, business and tax revenues and airport revenue. According to the master plan there will be no call on the city to provide money from General Funds, all costs are paid for from airport revenues Oakland International Airport opened in 1962 and added a second terminal in 1985. In 1996 it handled 4.5 million passengers. There are over 10,000 people working at the airport from managers to maintenance workers to administrative workers.
Ten airlines operate or will operate out of the terminals providing over 1200 flights across the world. Terminal One, opened in 1962 recently underwent a major facelift. The three biggest employers at OIA are Federal Express, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines employees about 1800 people at OIA, including Maintenance Manager Mike Vega. He has worked around aircraft for over 15 years and started with Southwest five years ago as a mechanic.
Now, he oversees the maintenance crews that service the Boeing 737s that fly into Oakland International Airport. Southwest flies 109 flights a day out of OIA, 70 out of San Jose Airport and 18 out of San Francisco Airport. The company has close to 2400 employees in Bay Area. Vega started working on aircraft in 1982 while in the military.
When he got out he went to school to learn how to care for big jets and in 1986 found a job with Midway Airlines in Chicago repairing 737s and McDonnell-Douglas DC9s. Vega’s family is in Vallejo, so when Midway decided to open a maintenance base in Southern California, he transferred out as lead mechanic. Unfortunately the airline went out of business shortly afterwards. Vega spent the next year working at Lockheed and repairing Boeing 747s.
He was the sixth person to be hired when the Oakland maintenance station was opened in 1993. Southwest standards for mechanics are high and all aircraft mechanics must be FAA-certified. "You have to have an airframe and powerplant mechanic’s license to work on passenger aircraft," said Vega.
Getting his license was "tough. A lot of studying. You have to take a written test, an oral test and a hands on test. If you don’t pass the written test you can’t move on." When it comes to the hands-on test," they can keep you as long as they want," he added. The learning isn’t over upon receipt of the A&P license, though. "When you move on to bigger aircraft you get sent to a lot of training. You go to a lot of systems courses, a lot of two-week courses," said Vega.
Southwest looks for those with an Airframe and Powerplant license plus a couple years of experience. Vega has recruited 95 percent of the workers under him, he said. Southwest’s mechanics start out at about $18 per hour and work their way up to $26. Vega sees applicants who learned aircraft mechanics in the military and schools like Sierra Academy at Oakland Airport, he said.
"You just have to go to these aviation schools. I think there’s going to be more jets out there, more business," he added. Prospective jet mechanics need to have common sense. "You can’t make little mistakes, the little mistakes are what will hurt you," said Vega. A few of the skills mechanics must have are mechanical, electrical, sheetmetal skills, knowledge of engines, and avionics, and an understanding of the theories of flight and jet propulsion.
He enjoys the bustle of the airport and "seeing the operation, seeing the production side of it, how it all works. It’s fulfilling. You see problems that come in and you see the mechanics out there trouble shooting. The most interesting part of his job are the people, Vega said.
"Seeing the different personalities and how they interact with each other. I see as manager what I need to do, what part I play to make it all work. You have to adjust to people you’re talking to and you have to find out what makes people tick. Some of them take diesel fuel, some of them take jet fuel, you know?"
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