Education and training are key factors as aviation engineering jobs inch towards a record high

A remarkable event took place at Ayrshire College this week.

Doug Maclean Aviation Editor 12th December 2025.

AERALIS are the pioneering aircraft design company who aim to build the replacement for the Red Arrows jets at Prestwick airport. They have the backing of world class engineering and manufacturing companies and can attract finance from across the globe.

Anton Burford and Callum Watson of AERALIS made a presentation at Ayrshire College. The room was full of an apparently ideal audience; students who are already committed to a rewarding career in a variety of roles in aircraft engineering.

What made the event remarkable ? That became clear in a later conversation with the hugely experienced Angela Cox, the Principal & CEO of Ayrshire College and her “wingmen” for the evening, Gavin Murray, Assistant Principal, Skills and Innovation and Alistair Rodgers, Director of Enterprise Development. I will explain towards the end.

AERALIS were there to explain what aircraft they plan to assemble at Prestwick.

Some of the key factors that make them a realistic option for a groundbreaking order from the UK Ministry of Defence are

⁃ the aircraft is being designed in a digital package that is probably unique in any major military aircraft programme

⁃ They are aiming to produce an aircraft that will have the annual serviceability and reliability of civil aircraft. That should make the aircraft regularly available at least twice as often as current military aircraft

⁃ The aircraft is being developed with private finance, and no Government money will be expected up front to pay for the development

⁃ Future versions of the aircraft will use the common core fuselage but with different role wings, avionics, engines, fuel tanks, etc

⁃ Many aircraft key components like engines, undercarriage and ejector seats will be existing hardware with proven performance and reliability

⁃ The AERALIS jet is the only aircraft that fits the needs of the RAF and is designed and built in the UK

⁃ A final assembly hangar will be constructed at Prestwick

⁃ International maintenance and upgrades or model changes will be done at Prestwick

⁃ An initial 400 skilled jobs will be created at Prestwick

⁃ A decision to go ahead with an order is expected to be made in the first part of 2026

⁃ Go ahead to first flight is planned as 3 years

The aircraft is aimed at a market of at least 1,000 aircraft that will have to be replaced in the next decade. With the AERALIS multi role design the potential market is many more than 1,000.

Gavin Murray, Assistant Principal, Skills and Innovation explained that “Ayrshire College's ambition is, through its various sites and UK regulatory approvals, to create a magnetic force around Prestwick to make it a destination where students can learn and train, at an international airport, and then work and live in the area which contains Scotland’s aerospace cluster.”

Alistair Rodgers, Director of Enterprise Development explained international companies “like GE Caledonian work in partnership with Ayrshire College to support the delivery of their Modern Apprenticeship programme; this follows the standard Engineering Apprenticeship programme framework, however, the College offers bespoke additionality within the programme to ensure that it suits their specific business needs. This partnership enables, for instance, GE Caledonian to recruit 15-20 students per year onto their apprenticeship programmes exclusively from Ayrshire College pre-apprenticeship training courses”.

Angela Cox explained that the College was looking at not only the skills needed for 3 years ahead but the next ways of working that will be in place from that time onwards. The College is planning the education courses that will be needed 3, 5 or 10 years ahead to enable Ayrshire College graduates to seamlessly transition to the world of well paid work in the aerospace industry based around Prestwick airport.

There was also an explanation of how the College is working on “digital twinning” which allows physical hardware to be exactly matched with a digital version. Artificial Intelligence and its huge ability to gather and analyse data and information then becomes a development tool to refine and help the people who are using the hardware.

In our press briefing with Anton Burford, AERALIS Director Capability, it became obvious that the company were delighted to find Ayrshire College already working on digital twinning in the New Skills Hub at the Kilwinning Campus and in real world projects. The design and construction of the AERALIS jet is based on this concept and both the College and AERALIS are heading into the future on very similar paths.

The fact that Ayrshire College is a single regional College with multiple sites gives them the capacity and expertise to allow Gavin Murray, with the Skills and Innovation remit, to develop and apply these modern concepts. This means Ayrshire College can confidently work with the aerospace and aeronautical industries to ensure that graduates of the classes of 2026 will be well set for work but also the graduates of the classes of 2036 are already having their future education needs addressed.

It was very heartening to hear that the senior management at both AERALIS and Ayrshire College are looking at providing valuable education and employment opportunities. By using the modern development approach that AERALIS are bringing with their project Ayrshire College will be embedding some of the future skills that the Red Arrows jet builders of the 2030s will need at Prestwick.

Finally getting back to what made the event remarkable ? AERALIS were addressing a room of 50 or 60 aeronautical engineering students. It was noticeable that many of them were wearing clothing branded with some of the best-known aviation companies in the world. Every single one of those students is already employed on training or apprenticeship courses with these major companies or they will certainly be before they leave College next summer. AERALIS employees of 2029 and beyond may not even have started their College education.

In a world full of employment uncertainty and declining reward the aviation industry stands out like a shining beacon of opportunity. Apprenticeship openings have trebled in the last 5 years. The young people training today, and likely for decades in the future, will have the opportunity to join an industry where you can be well rewarded and have a lifetime of work that can take you to any part of the world.

Nobody seems to have an exact total of people employed in the aerospace cluster of companies based around Prestwick airport. History tells us that a lot of people were employed by Scottish Aviation and the early days of Caledonian Airmotive. Industry often quotes that around 4,500 people are currently working in aerospace jobs here. Now seems a good time to look forward. In the next months we will see more and more work coming to Ayrshire. I am confident that 2026 will see the employment figure rise to well over 5,000.

Prestwick is at the heart of Scottish aviation. AERALIS will be a welcome addition to the list of world renowned companies that make it such an exciting place to work. Now we also know that Ayrshire College are educating the future workforce and leaders of world aviation engineering.

The future is bright. The future is Ayrshire.