Valley aviation company says industry has been hit hard in all areas, working to showcase career opportunities

BRIDGEWATER, Va. (WHSV) – “It’s bigger than just pilots and mechanics, so we’re talking about engineering shortages, there are aircraft painting shortages, there are shortages in everything you could imagine,” Dynamic Aviation Director of Partner Relations and Marketing Shane Combs said.

Many look to airlines being short on pilots, baggage technicians, and flight attendants. The staff at Dynamic Aviation and a general contractor in Bridgewater say there is a bigger picture with staffing of other jobs in touch labor, though.

“Unfortunately we’ve devalued the actual price of skill and we’ve driven the cost of labor so high by not paying attention to this oncoming gap in the pipeline that now we’re all paying the price for it. Everyone’s in survival mode now it is a crisis level you speak to anyone whatever corporate chain you want to talk about,” Combs explained.

Dynamic Aviation does not fly passengers or cargo but assists the aviation industry as a whole through maintenance, repair, and overhaul. Through their NextGen Aviators program, which showcases career opportunities, they hope to do their part to boost the aviation workforce.

“We’ve seen some great results we’re starting to see interns come back that went through our program last year, we’re starting to come back through now as interns and we’re actually seeing some results of this so that part of it’s been very fulfilling,” Combs said.

Combs says at all levels of the aviation industry, collaboration is crucial to begin to solve these problems.

“This is a long game we’re playing. It’s going to take all of the industry pulling in the same direction for years we’ve all pulled apart from each other but I think now everyone understands that a healthy flourishing workforce is good for the industry itself,” Combs explained.

In terms of passenger travel, most recently United Airlines announced an extreme need for air traffic controllers, highlighting yet another facet of the aviation industry hurting for staff.