GE Careers Blog.

AIRCRAFT engine overhaul and maintenance company GE Aviation Wales has reported a record number of applicants for its apprentice programme over the past three months – with applications up 50% from the same period last year. The Nantgarw-based company received nearly 900 applications for the 25 apprenticeship places available this year, more than 35 applications per place.

Southwest Airlines announced a multi-billion-dollar order for aircraft engines that is expected to keep the GE Aviation plant in Greenville County busy for years to come. The massive deal provides additional job security for about 200 workers at the jet engine components plant and underscores the promise that advanced manufacturing holds for South Carolinians who possess the necessary skills.

Jenna Dolan may seem like a typical GE Aviation manager but the pictures in her office point to a bigger story. Dolan is a former fighter jet pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps, where she spent a dozen year and was the first woman to fly AV-8B Harrier in combat. That was in Iraq, where Dolan, or “Dookie” to her fellow Devil Dogs, served two six-month tours. Dolan, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1996, is one of 10,000 U.S. military veterans employed by GE. This high number is no accident.

GE Aviation, promising to employ 300 to 400 people ultimately, broke ground Monday on a 300,000-square-foot plant in nearby Auburn, Ala. “We’ll probably hire 50 (or fewer) in 2012 and we’ll just gradually increase each year from there. Our goal is when we get toward the end of the decade to be around 300 or 400 people,” said GE Aviation spokesman Rick Kennedy.

GE works by moving the world on lighter, quieter, more fuel-efficient engines. In Peebles, Ohio, we’re testing aircraft engines that produce fewer emissions and make less noise.