The FAA is soliciting applications for maintenance and pilot workforce development grants. Aircraft Pilots Workforce Development Grants of between $25,000 and $500,000 are available for programs that are designed to expand the pilot workforce and educate students to become pilots, aerospace engineers, or unmanned systems operators.
Similar Aviation Maintenance Technical Workers Workforce Development Grants are available for programs that prepare an inclusive base of aviation maintenance technicians. Applications will be accepted through March 22. The estimated total funding for each program is $5 million.
Both grant programs were created under a measure included in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. Industry groups, grappling with looming workforce shortages, had strongly supported the measure. “These grant programs will not only ensure our workforce is properly skilled to operate and maintain the safest aviation system in the world, but will also provide important re-training and re-skilling opportunities for workers who have been displaced during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said National Air Transportation Association president and CEO Timothy Obitts. “Our industry has eagerly awaited the launch of these programs—prime examples of public-private partnerships leveraging federal investment. We are pleased to see the funding made available as we start the new year.”