JobsOhio Workforce Grant Helps Wilmington Company Launch New Training Program

Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services (AMES), which provides aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services at the Wilmington Air Park, received a $315,000 workforce grant. AMES will use the grant to start a program designed specifically to train technicians in the area of sheet metal repair/structure. There’s a shortage of technicians in this specialty area, and the training program will help support AMES’ efforts to recruit workers who want to develop this in-demand skill.

The new positions represent nearly $3 million in payroll. They’ll be filled over the next two years as new students enter the six-month training program.

AMES is a subsidiary of the Air Transport Services Group (ATSG), which is based at the Wilmington Air Park. Through its seven subsidiaries, ATSG provides air cargo lift, aircraft leasing, aircraft maintenance and airport ground services.

The new jobs and the training grant benefit a community that’s recovering from the loss of 8,000 jobs in 2009 when DHL, the airpark’s owner, relocated its ground distribution services. A year later, DHL donated the airpark to the Clinton County Port Authority. Since then, business in the airpark has grown steadily and the added a $14.6 million, 105,000-square-foot hangar in 2014. Today, the airpark employs more than 1,400 people, including 800 who work for AMES.

The Wilmington Air Park and its tenants, such as ATSG and AMES, help make Ohio a great place for companies involved in the Aerospace and Aviation industry as well as for companies that depend on good Logistics and Distribution channels.

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