AUSAC foresees serious Skills Shortages in Flying and Maintenance Sectors

As the Australian Airshow kicked off this week, a ground breaking aviation “Summit”, was held in Melbourne on Monday. The Summit addressed the pressing issue of scarce human resource skills confronting the industry, as a surge in growth in the Asia Pacific region quickly absorbs supply.

The Summit was convened by the Australian Aviation Council, AUSAC, to address key issues which will confront the aviation industry over the next decade. It brought together leaders of all major aviation industry groups in Australia, along with representatives of all major airlines and the defence force.

Foremost among these concerns was the issue of human resources and industry skills, notably of flight crew and maintenance engineers. The growth surge coincides with an ageing industry population, where the average age of licensed aircraft engineers is in the mid fifties and the average professional pilot is aged in the late forties.

Significantly too, just as many of these skilled professionals approach retirement, most industry sectors are under strict cost constraints. As a consequence, intakes of apprentices in both civil and military aviation are reduced to all time lows.

This is not just an issue for Australia. Compounding the concern even further is the rapid surge in growth across the region (with rapidly expanding Chinese, Indian airlines and new entrant low cost airlines), which threatens to absorb unprecedented levels of skilled employees. As several hundred million consumers in the region reach economic thresholds which give them access to air travel, the demand for airline expansion is quickly creating immense resource pressures.

AUSAC President, Captain John Siebert, said, “These are not problems which can be solved by quick fixes. Training professionals in these areas can take anything from four to seven years. As an industry we need to come to grips with this looming problem before it becomes endemic.”

The AUSAC finding echoes a Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation report at the recent Singapore Outlook 2005 Conference, which indicated that, even on current conservative estimates, an additional 94,000 skilled staff will be needed in the region over the next decade, greatly exceeding the projected supply.

Captain Siebert added, “this is undoubtedly a major threat to the continued viability of the aviation industry in this country, right through from the general aviation end of the market to the major airlines and the defence forces. A range of actions is needed to break the logjam of shortage of training resources. AUSAC will seek as a matter of urgency to work with governments at state and federal level to address the problem.”

“But, as well as threatening industry viability, this likely shortfall also offers opportunities.” Said Captain Siebert, “Australia is recognised globally as a country with a high level of aviation integrity and offers enormous opportunities for export of industry training and educational services. With intelligent planning and appropriate government support, this offers a great win-win for Australian aviation.”

Other issues raised at the Summit, which will be reviewed further by AUSAC at a Board meeting next month, included:

- The need for a forward looking aviation policy, which would incorporate the features of a rapidly changing industry. This will focus on the need to ensure availability of adequate funding to support an industry which is currently economically unsustainable at many levels;

- Expediting development of industry regulatory standards which provide a less prescriptive – and therefore less costly – structure more in conformity with standards in other jurisdictions like Europe, the US and New Zealand;

- Addressing the need to improve management skills throughout the general and regional aviation sector;

- Improving industry coordination in order to crystallise key common areas of concern – and in turn to develop a more effective industry voice. This includes issues such as tax incentives to encourage investment in new equipment, as well as some of the broader issues outlined above.

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