Today, students across all pathways at ASI, including Engineering, Pilot and Travel & Tourism, spoke with actively recruiting local aviation companies, with a vast array of roles available.
Industry giants including DEA, Babcock International, RVL Aviation, DHL, MASS, Eagle Eye Innovations, 2Excel and Currys exhibited in the Tom Marsden Memorial Hangar.
Students were proactive in engaging with employers, with CVs ready to gain valuable connections and work experience opportunities.
ASI Aircraft Maintenance Technician apprentices Harrison Fletcher, Alistair Thatcher and Conor Simmons were in attendance at the Expo with their employer. The students, who now work for Babcock International, were once Level 3 Aircraft Maintenance Engineering students at ASI.
In 2025, Babcock conducted an aptitude assessment at ASI for engineering students, and all three students were successful and progressed onto the Aircraft Maintenance Technician Apprenticeship with ASI and Babcock.
Harrison Fletcher, ASI Babcock apprentice, said: “With Babcock coming directly to ASI, it was a very exclusive thing, and it felt very good to be headhunted for the role. It opens a lot of different avenues.”
Stephen Gray, Skills Delivery Manager at Babcock International, said: “In the aerospace industry, we are really struggling with recruitment and retention. We have a very ageing workforce.
“We need to bring more young people into the business, and opportunities to collaborate with organisations such as ASI through apprenticeship programmes are the way forward for the aircraft industry.
“The students have been excellent; they are very interested and attentive. They know what career path they want to take – it’s all good for the future.”
With valuable connections being made, ASI students have leveraged the opportunity to take steps in the right direction towards their future careers.
The Expo also highlighted the wide variety of careers available within the aviation industry, including opportunities in business and logistics, electronics, and drone technology - roles that are not always immediately associated with aviation.
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