Expert: David A. NewMyer - 3/7/2010

Question
I'm interested in a career in airport or FBO management.  The problem is that I recognize these job-opportunities tend to be fairly scarce.  With a wife and child, it doesn't seem intelligent to get an aviation focused master degree which by definition tends to be preparatory only to an aviation career.  As such, I've entered a more generally applicable finance MBA program.  Where might I use that degree and my pilot certificate (AMEL Instrument) to enter the business side of aviation?  Do I need to add an aviation management certificate of some sort to my dossier?

Answer
Hi, Tennison:

Overall, if I were looking at the aviation industry overall as a place to work, there are a broad range of jobs in four key segments of the industry;

Aviation/Aerospace Manufacturing:  641,100

Airlines (major, national, regional including cargo):  620,526

General Aviation (FBOs, corporate aviation, MROs, etc):  638,000

Government Aviation (non-military, including FAA, TSA and airports):  175,048

TOTAL:                                              2,074,674

From the airport side of things, there are a number of things that you can do to improve your chances of employment, especially with regard to joining the American Association of Airport Executives or AAAE.  This organization can be contacted at www.aaae.org  and it has, among other things, a listing of airport management internships as well as a "Certified Member"  or CM program that allows you to take a test and then become certified as a step toward becoming an Accredited Airport Executive (once you have the necessary experience in the airport management industry).

As far as the master's degree question, the selection of an aviation-specific degree would depend on how much you believe you would like to work in aviation and how much you like the industry.  A compromise would be to select a generic degree title that has an aviation emphasis or specialization built into it rather than a "pure" aviation master's degree.  The examples of the more generic degree offerings that have aviation as a specialization would be:

The Master of Public Administration in Aviation Administration, which is offered by:

1.  University of Nebraska Omaha
2.  Southern Illinois University Carbondale (where I work)

The MPA in Aviation Administration (above) would be particularly appropriate for working at airports or in aviation-related government agencies such as the FAA, TSA or state aviation agencies.

The Master of Business Administration in Aviation, which is offered by:

1.  Daniel Webster College, Nashua, New Hampshire
2.  Dowling College, Oakdale, New York
3.  Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida
4.  University of Tennessee

The above MBA in aviation degrees could be used either in the airport industry or in the FBO industry.  

And, in the instances of both the MPA and MBA degrees, you will have the generic degree content to fall back on in addition to the aviation content.

As far as using your pilot certificates as a basis for working in aviation, that will probably fit best with the FBO industry since they are on-airport businesses that rely on serving pilots, aircraft and aviation companies.  Having a pilot certificate can also help in working for an airport, but, in those jobs it is also important to have a broader, administrative background (since airport managers are "jacks of all trades" having to deal with budgets, real estate, PR, airport plans, etc.

I hope that this helps!

Best of luck to you!

David A. NewMyer