Flight Attendant
Flight attendants are one of the most underappreciated workers in aviation. While pilots are considered glamorous and mechanics are praised for keeping the planes flying safely, flight attendants have the unenviable task of keeping the passengers content during long flights. They have to practice exceptional customer service with the same customers sometimes for 8 hours or more at time. That's a real challenge.
As a flight attendant, you won't have much time at home. Instead, you'll have long hours on the flights and sometimes overnight layovers in cities around the world. While that may not sound too bad, it can be exhausting after a while. You may have to work on holidays, too.
If you are interested in becoming a flight attendant, you'll find three main requirements. First, you will need to have completed secondary school. Without that qualification, you won't be able to move onto the second requirement which is the completion of a training program that has been approved by Transport Canada. Finally, you will also need some experience working with the public. This experience can come in a wide variety of forms but some of the best experiences are in the retail and hospitality industries. Remember that being fluent in both English and French is a great idea since Canada is bi-lingual. However, if you also know other languages this will give you an advantage over the competition.
The job prospects for flight attendants will vary from location to location. For example, in Quebec, you'll find only limited job opportunities throughout most of the province but good chances around Montreal and Laval. Overall, your best chances for finding employment will come from sticking to larger cities where major airports are located.
In terms of pay, hourly wages can vary considerably. In Ontario, for example, people holding these aviation jobs in Canada can earn around $21.70 in the Norfolk area and around $33.95 per hour in the Toronto area. A similar trend is also evident in British Columbia: around Vancouver the average hourly wage for flight attendants is just over $31 while elsewhere in the province it hovers around $20.
Airplane Mechanics & Technicians
Whether you're looking at aviation jobs in Canada or in the United States, the demand for behind-the-scenes technical know how continues to be quite great. Mechanics and technicians are needed in order to keep the flights running safely and on time. That means as long as people are flying there will be a need for these valuable and lucrative occupations.
If you are looking to acquire one of these professions, you should know that strict requirements must be meant before you will be considered for any available positions. For starters, you'll need to complete a program of study in college on either electronics or avionics. These programs last for two to three years. For other types of mechanic jobs dealing with the airplane, you may to be trained through college as an electrician. In any case, you're going to be required to complete a four year apprenticeship so that you can have solid on-the-job training to make sure you understand what you are doing.
Additionally, you will need to be certified with an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer's license through Transport Canada and may also be required to obtain industry certification through the Canadian Aviation Maintenance Council depending on the specific job you want.
After you complete the training and gain approximately five years experience as a mechanic or technician, you may be able to move up to a position as an avionics inspector.
If you are interested in learning about the job prospects, you should be pleasantly surprised in some provinces while the possibilities are more disappointing in others. Take Ontario, for example. The opportunities there are considered limited, especially around the Niagara area. However, throughout Quebec the prospects are considered good, especially around Montreal which is one of the main hubs for airport traffic in the country. The outlook for several other provinces, unfortunately, is only fair to limited, including New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland.
Wages for airline mechanics vary considerably. If you land a job at a large airport for a major airline company, you are likely to make more than you would for a smaller company. Obviously, you will earn considerably less during your apprenticeship than you will once you are considered a full member of the profession. Another factor to consider is that normally larger cities are going to pay better for these important jobs than smaller areas. However, that's not always the case. Take Quebec, for example. In Montreal, the average wage for these aviation jobs in Canada was $20 per hour while in the Mauricie region the average hourly wage was $4 higher. In British Columbia, on the other hand, the hourly wages are higher around Vancouver - $26 per hour – than on Vancouver Island and around Victoria - $21 per hour. In Nova Scotia, the differences are not very great from area to area. While Halifax does have the highest average at $27, most of the other areas pay around $24 per hour on average.
Conclusion
Although flight attendants and airline mechanics may not be glamorous jobs, they are two of the most in demand aviation jobs in Canada. If you're looking other fields, such as being a pilot, you'll find fewer opportunities and greater demand for a very limited number of positions. However, you'll be more likely to find them at smaller airports where you can get experience before moving onto bigger airports.
