Aspire MRO is ramping up its Boeing 777 passenger-to-freighter conversion capacity—and seeking significant workforce growth to match.
Operating out of Fort Worth, Texas, the MRO provider launched passenger-to-freighter (PTF) conversions in 2022 and now expects to complete three supplemental type certificates with Mammoth Freighters this year. According to Aspire MRO President and CEO Phil Bathurst, the company plans to run five lines of PTFs for at least the next 3-5 years.
“With each of those, it’s also a heavy maintenance visit and every service bulletin they can throw in there, because a lot of these planes are lease returns and things like that, so there’s a lot going on,” he says. “We’re currently at a little over 200 billable mechanics, and to hit the numbers and schedules, we need to have at least 500 [mechanics] in 2025-26.” Bathurst adds that Aspire MRO has been fielding requests from airlines to begin offering heavy maintenance slots due to capacity shortages in the U.S., so it is also eyeing that capability for its future roadmap.
Aspire partnered with Launch Technical Workforce Solutions in January 2023 to pursue a variety of workforce recruitment and labor management strategies. Bathurst says the MRO provider has “pretty much turned it over to Launch” to handle contract, direct and international labor needs. “We don’t review resumes,” he adds. “It shocks people to hear that, but what we’ve done is work closely with the Launch team to say exactly what we’re looking for and hold them accountable for getting the right people—and it’s been so successful.”
According to Launch CEO Mike Guagenti, “being able to start from scratch allowed us to really put a blueprint down and develop a full program.” In addition to traditional labor recruiting, Launch has tapped several of its pipeline development initiatives to grow Aspire’s workforce, such as its Working Heroes program to simplify experienced military veterans’ transitions to the civilian workforce and its Global Access program, in which it sponsors skilled mechanics from abroad to work in the U.S.
The workforce specialist is also tapping resources from its Launch Academy program, which is focused on providing training and support to help companies onboard new technicians. Bathurst says the Launch Academy collaboration has been focused on establishing a clearly defined career path for new hires and providing them with the training, tools and expectations to succeed, including providing a clear idea of salary growth over a specified time period.
“I think that’s how you take care of the junior [staff],” says Bathurst. “When they’re thinking, ‘I have this opportunity to go somewhere else for an extra dollar an hour,’ they understand they’re not guaranteed that extra $10 an hour down the road.” Guagenti adds: “That visibility to a career path is a big motivator, and when you can provide that with your clients, you have a higher retention rate.”
Aspire has also been piloting Launch’s eLaunchNow online platform to simplify the process of matching technicians with open contract positions. “It’s a cool technology. It automates the matching of candidates to job openings,” says Guagenti. He adds that eLaunchNow—which is based off the StaffNow digital platform used by MRO providers in Europe—will be able to improve hiring throughput, efficiency, fulfillment rates and quality.
ELaunchNow will not be the first digital tool Aspire is trying out. Bathurst says the company is already 100% paperless. Last year it rolled out EmpowerMX software to manage its technical operations.
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