NMC Approves $3.62 Million To Help Aviation Department Navigate Global Aircraft Shortages

It only took three years, but a long-planned aviation expansion at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) is finally off the runway.

On Monday, NMC’s Board of Trustees approved $3.62 million to fund the purchase of five additional aircraft. That OK is the last big check mark for a long-gestating expansion of NMC Aviation, which also includes a major facilities buildout. According to Alex Bloye, director and academic chair of the aviation division, more facility space and a bigger fleet will allow the department to accept more students, something it has been wanting to do for the better part of a decade.

The $3.62 million is intended to pay for four Cessna Skyhawks and one Piper Seminole. Per Bloye, the single-engine Skyhawks (pictured) are the bread and butter of the NMC training fleet and are essential for adding new students to the aviation program. The Piper Seminole, meanwhile, is a “specialty aircraft for advanced coursework.” NMC’s specialty fleet includes planes like the Piper Super Cub, a seaplane; or the American Champion Super Decathlon, which is used for aerobatics training. It also includes two Piper Aztecs, old twin-engine planes that NMC has typically used for multi-engine flight training.

“The Seminole is another twin-engine trainer, and we actually already have one on order from the factory, which should be delivered in the next two months,” Bloye says. “With this new money, we’ll be able to order a second one, which will be delivered in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027. Those will replace the Piper Aztecs, which are really an aging fleet. They’re not supported by the manufacturer anymore, so it’s really difficult to find parts and maintain those aircraft.”

Program growth has been a long time coming for NMC Aviation. Student demand for the college’s pilot-training programs skyrocketed around 2017, in the midst of a growing global pilot shortage. The COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted struggling airlines to offer early retirements to many older pilots, only exacerbated the shortage, funneling more students toward NMC’s program.

The fierce demand motivated NMC to plot a 25 percent expansion of its aviation department, which The Ticker first reported in March of 2022. Fast-forward to February 2025, and that effort is nearly complete. Last fall, the college broke ground on a $7 million project that will more than double the size of its aviation hangar, from 18,000 to 40,000 square feet.

“The building is well underway, and it’s looking really good,” Bloye says. “The steel is going up, the frame is up, and we're on track to get to have that facility fully available to us in August of this year. And with that on track, we can now more purposefully start going out to look for additional aircraft to add to the fleet.”

There’s some turbulence on that part of the journey, though. According to Bloye, the aviation industry has seen “a significant reduction in hiring over the past few months,” thanks to a global aircraft shortage.

“From everyone we've spoken with, all of our advisors and all our contacts with the airlines, it's not a pilot demand issue so much as an airplane problem,” Bloye explains. “There's so much demand for aircraft right now, for the global fleet, and if you couple that with issues that some of the manufacturers – like Boeing – have seen over the past year or so, there simply aren’t enough airplanes to fill the demand. As a result, all of the major U.S. airlines made the decision late last year to slow hiring.”

Boeing had a rough 2024, starting with an Alaska Airlines emergency last January aboard a Boeing aircraft. That incident prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground Boeing planes and launch audits of the company’s production pipeline. Similar problems with Airbus, another major aircraft manufacturer, caused a Hong Kong-based airline to ground its Airbus fleet in September. According to Reuters, those issues collectively meant that U.S. carriers received 32 percent fewer aircraft in 2024 than expected.

The kinks in the supply chain have hit NMC, too. Bloye says the college already has “two brand-new Skyhawks on order” with Cessna, but thanks to the industry-wide backlog, those aircraft won’t be ready until 2028.

“In the meantime, we’ve made the decision to look at the used market,” Bloye explains. “So, the money approved Monday is not for an immediate purchase of aircraft that we've identified. Rather, it gives us the flexibility to meet the expansion goals sooner by keeping an eye on the market to see if there are any aircraft that we're interested in purchasing before 2028. The Skyhawk is one of the most sought-after aircraft in the world, so with this blanket authorization, we will be able to move so much faster if/when something hits the market.”

According to Bloye, every new plane NMC adds to its fleet “represents anywhere from 7-10 new seats that we can open up for students each year.” Right now, the program can accept approximately 50 new pupils per year, and has a waitlist 100 names long.

“We’re really excited to get some of those people into the program, because, as educators, it is heart-wrenching to see students waiting so long – sometimes up to two years – to get into the aviation programs and realize their dreams. They're going after a career, and we're here to help them do that. Now, we’ll be able to do it faster.”

As for the hiring slowdown in the aviation world, Bloye is confident it’s just a passing cloud.

“We’re seeing regional hiring pick back up, and I've seen reports that Delta and American are still retiring a great deal of pilots this year, which will naturally lead to more hiring,” he says. “We know that demand just keeps growing for air travel, for flight instruction, and for pilots; everyone just took a pause to let the fleet catch up.”