These are MRO workforce challenges on the horizon

As indicated previously, the anticipated shortage is due in part to an aging global population. But this is far from the only issue. The real challenge going forward will be attracting new talent to the MRO industry, and that is proving to be difficult.

There are plenty of people from the millennial generation who could step in to take the place of the seasoned mechanics of today – but they simply aren’t interested, it seems.

The issue of attracting younger people to the aviation industry is becoming urgent, and the subject was even raised at multiple sessions at this year’s MRO Europe in Amsterdam.

To some degree, the problem stems from the aircraft maintenance technicians’ current wages, benefits and perks, concludes Oliver Wyman, who conducted a study which showed 51 percent of respondents in the MRO industry identified wages and benefits as an obstacle.

However, wages and benefits aren’t the only issues. According to The Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC), up to 30 percent of those who finish an aviation maintenance training course end up working in another industry. This further highlights the need to make the industry appealing (again).

New fleet – new skill sets

With the abundance of new planes coming into service, 58 percent of the global fleet will – within the next 10 years – be comprised of new fuel-efficient aircraft, designed and built after 2000.

Along with new aircraft platforms comes new skill set requirements for the aircraft technicians responsible for the maintenance. This means that the aviation maintenance team of tomorrow will need a wider range of skills than ever before, further complicating the expected labour shortage.

On top of this, the area of aircraft maintenance is set to go through some dramatic changes in the years to come, due to the increasing amount of modern technology, such as data acquisition points and state of the art avionics that new aircraft are being fitted with.

Maintenance workers of the future will need to know and, to a certain degree, understand these new technologies. Oliver Wyman has identified three emerging technologies within aviation MRO that will be absolutely vital to know for future technicians:

Composite material repair and manufacturing
Collection and reporting of data for advanced analytics, big data, and predictive maintenance
Newest avionics and electrical systems

What are the solutions going forward?

It’s becoming apparent that the airline and MRO industry must do something to address the future MRO labour challenges – preferably sooner rather than later. Oliver Wyman identifies three primary challenges that the industry has to resolve in the next couple of years. These are:

Protecting the technical pipeline
Raising the desirability of working in aviation maintenance
Recruiting across a broader demographic

Digital services

Quick Links

Quick Links

Legal Links

Why are there concerns about MRO labour capacity in aviation?