Groundbreaking ceremony for Ascent Aviation Services' new Marana hangars, which will accommodate its passenger-to-freighter conversion work.
MARANA, ARIZONA—Ascent Aviation Services broke ground last week on two new widebody hangars that will be home to its passenger-to-freighter conversions for Israel Aerospace Industries. As construction takes place, it is also working to boost workforce and expertise to prepare for the program.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) selected Ascent as its North American site for Boeing 777-300ER passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversions in September 2023. IAI has also partnered with Sharp Technics K in South Korea and Etihad Engineering in the United Arab Emirates on 777-300ER P2F conversions. According to Chief Commercial Officer Scott Butler, Ascent will be handling about 25% of IAI’s worldwide conversions.
The 15-year contract has a minimum of 15 aircraft conversions, but Butler tells Aviation Week that Ascent expects to perform upwards of 60-70 conversions. Certification for the P2F program is expected in the second quarter of 2024, with Ascent planning to begin modification activities on the first aircraft soon thereafter.
Ascent is investing approximately $55 million in the new hangars, which are expected to be complete by the end of 2024. Located side-by-side, each hangar will be 90,000 ft.2 and feature an additional 60,000 ft.2 of space for back shops and offices. The hangars will give Ascent capability to run two lines of conversions simultaneously.
According to Ascent, the P2F site will create more than 300 new aviation jobs. It has already begun hiring and has filled approximately 130 of the required positions so far through industry partnerships with staffing agencies and local schools. In total, the P2F-related hiring targets will grow Ascent’s Marana workforce to around 900 employees.
To boost structures capabilities for the new conversion program, the company started an in-house structures certification program in January. Ascent recently graduated its first structures apprenticeship class and Butler says it will continue the program in anticipation of P2F work.
Ascent is also working on training with IAI to prepare staff for the conversion work. Butler says Ascent previously sent some teams to Israel to get the initial training plan and will be sending teams to IAI facilities this month to receive on-the-ground training. “They’re going to be working alongside the IAI team learning critical phases of the aircraft installation,” says Butler. “IAI will have a team over here for the first couple aircraft for about two years to make sure that we’re streamlined and getting our process off the ground.”
To further grow workforce recruitment, Ascent is partnered with local schools and military branches to recruit and train new staff. “Overall demand for mechanics is overwhelming sometimes, so it’s going to be a challenge, but it’s something we’re used to dealing with,” says Butler. He adds that in addition to lower cost of living near its facilities in Marana and Tucson, diversity in the type of aftermarket work Ascent’s staff gets exposure to is a selling point for new hires.
“I’d say it’s a booster shot into your career going from reclamation all the way to 777 conversion within a few hundred feet,” says Butler. “[Because of] the nature of our business—having storage, reclamation and back shops—we can start off people in many different areas to get their feet wet in order to get the training they need. With our own certification programs now, we can run people through training and that kind of experience to close the experience gap.”
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