American Airlines has received $22 million in state funding from Oklahoma’s Business Expansion Incentive Program to grow and upgrade its Tulsa MRO facility. The investment will also drive a significant hiring push as the airline prepares for fleet growth.
Greg Emerson, American’s vice president of base maintenance and facilities, says the airline is planning to add more than 300 new employees in Tulsa as part of the investment. The airline will be hiring a variety of positions, including airframe and powerplant mechanics, engineers, machinists, welders and maintenance planners. American already has around 5,000 employees at the Tulsa site. It is currently hiring for the 300 new positions and hopes to fill the roles as soon as possible.
Emerson adds that the new hires will help American boost its existing engine repair and overhaul work at the site. A spokesperson for the airline says the investments will support plans to increase engine production by 50%. American has many aircraft on order, including Airbus A321XLRs—which it plans to add in late 2024—as well as A321neos, Boeing 737-8s and 787-9s. The new aircraft will be powered by CFM Leap 1A and 1B and General Electric GEnx-1B engines.
The new funding from the state of Oklahoma is in addition to American’s recent $31.6 million capital investment in its Tulsa engine shop to modernize machinery, as well as an ongoing multi-million dollar improvement project at the site. In addition to supporting workforce growth and increased engine production, American says the $22 million will go toward updating underground utilities running through the base and improving hangar doors in the aircraft overhaul operation. It will also be used to revitalize the plating shop it uses to support engines, landing gear and aircraft.
American’s Tulsa MRO facility features six hangars with 24 aircraft bays and 22 support facility buildings. In early 2020, the carrier announced that it was planning a new widebody MRO facility in Tulsa, but the investment was sidelined due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, Mark Miner, vice president for technical services at American, told Aviation Week that the airline was reevaluating how it planned to invest in growth at the Tulsa site.
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