FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Pierpont Community & Technical hopes to add at least 70 more students to its aviation maintenance program once a new building is completed at the North Central West Virginia Airport in Bridgeport.
A groundbreaking ceremony took place last week.
The $25 million aviation maintenance expansion will increase their student capacity from 130 to more than 200, according to Pierpont President Michael Waide.
Waide said Friday on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town” companies like Pratt & Whitney, Aurora Flight Sciences, KCI Aviation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries need the workers.
“Ninety percent of all of those graduates who finish our Aviation Maintenance program are staying here in our community,” Waide said. “They are walking across our commencement stage and right onto the field into these high-paying aviation maintenance jobs.”
The building is scheduled to be completed in about two years.
The West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education has given final approval for the project in August.
State Higher Education Chancellor Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker praised the approval.
“This is desperately needed by business and industry in the Bridgeport area, and Pierpont Community and Technical College has been wonderful about trying to come up with solutions in the interim until we can get this launched,” Tucker said after the August vote.
The facility was funded during the 2023 legislative session but has experienced design and land acquisition delays.
Meanwhile, Waide said his school’s health care and the health sciences are a growing. He said they are watching trends and talking to local providers to model their offerings for the future.
“I’m excited that our team in our healthcare and our health sciences are exploring ways to crossover some of the workforce training opportunities we do now and find new and innovative ways to off-ramp into other specialties,” Waide said.