It makes so much sense to have an aerospace school right at the airport.
That's why Okanagan College and the owners of the KF Centre for Excellence are partnering to build a $22-million, 42,000-square-foot campus at Kelowna International Airport.
The teaching facility will have classrooms, workshops and hangar space where students can work on actual planes.
It will be built right beside the KF Centre for Excellence, the vast museum, airplane display and event space that's located north of the airport terminal on Airport Way.
The announcement was made this week, construction will start in the spring and be completed and ready for students in September 2027.
The campus will be the home for Okanagan College's three aircraft maintenance engineering programs -- technician, structures and mechanical.
The programs are currently offered in smaller Okanagan College facilities at both Kelowna and Vernon airports, but the addition of the new 42,000-square-foot campus will bump annual student capacity from 30 to 140 by 2028.
KF Centre for Excellence is owned by BPL Legacy Association, which is named after Barry Paul Lapointe, the founder and chairman of KF Aerospace (formerly known as Kelowna Flightcraft).
The company was started by Lapointe, a pilot, in 1970 as a one-man airplane maintenance and repair operation.
Since then it has grown into a massive international aerospace company that does maintenance and retrofitting for Boeing, WestJet, Air Canada, United, Alaska Airlines, Air North, Sunwing, Icelandair and government and military clients.
Its KF Cargo division flies Purolator packages across the country; the Aeroflyer arm jets oil and gas workers up north and sports teams to wherever they're going; and its 50-50 SkyAlyne partnership with CAE (Canadian Aviation Electronics) has billions of dollars worth of contracts to train pilots and aircrews and do plane maintenance for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
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The bulk of the aircraft maintenance and retrofitting work is done at KF Aerospace's headquarters and hangars, which are also located just north of the airport's passenger terminal and across Airport Way from the KF Centre for Excellence.
KF Aerospace employees 750 people at its Kelowna headquarters, making it Kelowna's largest private-sector employer.
With so much going on at KF Aerospace it is in constant need of aircraft maintenance technicians, aircraft structures engineers and aircraft mechanical engineers.
That's why it has partnered with Okanagan College for the three programs for years and KF Aerospace has hired many of the graduates into stable and good-paying jobs.
"By expanding training opportunities through Okanagan College, we're investing in people, our community and Canada's future in flight," said Lapointe.
"Aviation has always been my passion. My goal has always been to inspire and prepare the next generation of aerospace professionals right here in the Okanagan."
BPL Legacy Association is kicking in $17 million of the capital construction costs and Okanagan College will rally government and community partners to raise the remaining $5 million needed for the total $22-million project.
When finished, Okanagan College will operate the campus on a long-term lease.
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"Hands-on, industry-driven education and training is what Okanagan College is known for," said college president Neil Fassina.
"By working together with the KF Centre for Excellence, we can provide an incredible learning opportunity for students to gain relevant skills and experience, while at the same time support a sector that is critically important across the country."
Mikayla McDermott is taking the aircraft maintenance engineering program right now and was at the announcement this week.
"I love this program and am grateful for the training we receive," she said.
"I am excited that future students will have even more opportunities to grow, learn and succeed. As for me, I will be graduating this December and I am confident that skills I am gaining now will help my career take off."
The aerospace sector is worth $34 billion a year to the Canadian economy and supports 225,000 jobs across the country.
Predictions are those numbers will only get bigger as the industry grows with passenger and cargo airlines expanding and defense infrastructure and surveillance improvements.
