Ask someone to describe what comes to mind when they think of airlines and chances are they'll mention a large commercial plane. Obviously that's a significant part of the airline industry with commercial carriers holding many employment opportunities. Smaller and charter airlines and helicopter companies also offer similar work opportunities and shouldn't be overlooked.

Smaller and charter airlines employ mainly pilots who will look after in-flight details for passengers although a small number of these airlines will employ a few flight attendants. Like commercial airlines, some smaller and charter airlines will have their own maintenance shops, while others will have their aircraft maintained and repaired on contract by outside service shops.

Smaller and charter airlines will have few office staff and those there will look after scheduling flights for cargo and/or passengers, accounting duties and general operations. Some of these companies will hire warehouse staff to look after loading and unloading cargo, re-fuelling planes etc. while others will contract out this work. Commercia airlines will typically have their own, and more, people performing such duties. In Calgary, as you can see, in addition to Air Canada, its subsidiaries and West Jet, other airlines offer many opportunities for work.

Despite the sometime up and down nature of the economy and its influence on the airlines, a November 2002 study published by the Canadian Aviation Maintenance Council predicts employment opportunities look strong for the industry in the next 20 years. The study says air passenger traffic will grow steadily as will the amount of cargo being sent by air and that new aircraft will continually be added to the skies.

In this issue of the magazine we talk to a couple of aircraft maintenance engineers, one who works on airplanes, the other on helicopters. While the basics of the work is similar the differences are significant. We also catch up with a helicopter pilot who sheds some valuable insight on the difference between flying planes and helicopters and talks about breaking into the workforce. And a flight attendant shares her story, from a perspective you might not expect. The Hot Tip looks at criteria useful when selecting a flying school and the Jump Start looks at the many education, training and networking opportunities available.

Here's a brief summary of some of the jobs available in this industry with links to more information from the Occinfo career database:

Aircraft maintenance engineers fix, replace and maintain mechanical components on aircraft. A two-year post-secondary program is required as is Transport Canada licensing.