Van Nuys Airport Hosts More Than 750 LAUSD Students at 2026 Aviation Career Day
Why It MattersAirports are using student outreach to build a local pipeline into flight training, maintenance, charter and medical transport work, the same activities the airport's economic study credits for its jobs base.
Van Nuys Airport (VNY) welcomed more than 750 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) students from across the San Fernando Valley for its 2026 Aviation Career Day. The students met aviation professionals, viewed aircraft on display and took part in interactive sessions demonstrating the roles involved in keeping an airport running. VNY also led guided tours of the airport, including visits to LA County's Super Scooper firefighting aircraft.
Congresswoman Luz Rivas said the event shows how education and industry can be brought together to prepare the next generation for high-paying, rewarding careers in the community, and thanked VNY for organizing it. Airport Manager Jacob Haik said the event lets students meet the people who run the airport, ask questions and see what a future in aviation could look like, and that he hopes they leave knowing there are many paths into the industry, some of them in the San Fernando Valley.
VNY's 2026 Economic Impact Study shows the airport supports 18,350 jobs and generates $3.9 billion in annual regional economic output, across businesses including flight training, aircraft maintenance, charter flights and emergency medical transportation. Beyond Aviation Career Day, VNY works with local schools and community organizations on educational and career development programs, such as its Youth Leadership Aviation Academy.
