AviationGeeks.com - BA Launches Engineering Apprenticeships

British Airways will start two apprenticeship schemes in September to inject new aircraft engineers into its workforce and prepare for its next-gen fleet that will start arriving in a couple of years. The airline plans to receive its first Boeing 787 in 2012 and its first Airbus A380 in 2013.

Garry Copeland, British Airways’ director of engineering, told AVIATION WEEK that 90 people will start a traditional apprenticeship program in conjunction with Farnborough, Kingston and Brooklands Colleges. Each college will instruct one-third of the students during the year-long academic course of the three-year apprenticeship, and British Airways will provide the practical training while working fulltime at London Heathrow.