The Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA) today released a seven-point plan to tackle the crippling shortage of maintenance engineers in the aviation industry.
Since training for engineers changed from CAR 31 to CASR Part 66 regulations in 2011, new entrants in the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry have dropped significantly, which the RAAA attributes to confusion about training pathways and barriers to qualification.
RAAA CEO Steve Campbell said the paper focused on short- and long-term solutions to address engineer shortages, and that the recommendations are very achievable.
"Our hope is that our industry does not have to wait for an aviation white paper process, which will take years, before the government focuses on solutions such as the ones we are proposing," Campbell said.
“We value the white paper process to provide long term policy strategy by government, but we can’t wait to fix today’s problems, so we have decided to give the solutions on engineering skills shortages to government now.
“All aviation sectors are affected by this shortage on a daily basis; we just need to look at increasing flight delays and flight cancelations.
"Our regional areas are particularly affected, remote communities and businesses could lose access to basic air services which are vital for connectivity, medical and mail services."
In the seven-point plan, the RAAA calls on the government to:
- recognise international LAME licences
- educate and support LAMEs
- create pathways for experience engineers to return
- remove challenges with the Diploma in Aeroskills exams
- issue LAME licences with exclusions
- create incentives to employ apprentices
- align theory training and create a national aviation academy.
Report author Sheridan Austin from Aviation QMS said she consulted with people experienced in the MRO industry to understand the root issues and put forward relieving measures.
“During my career in the aircraft engineering sector, I have seen a rapid decline in the number of aircraft engineers becoming qualified each year," Austin said. "Since 2016, we have seen an average of 135 aircraft engineer licences being issued, as opposed to an average of 297 in each of the 10 years prior.This does not even keep up with the attrition rate.
“There is a myriad of reasons behind this decline but what is apparent is that we need to ‘grow our own’ engineers for long-term stability, but we need skilled migration of experienced engineers as soon as possible with immediate recognition of those skills by our regulator CASA.
"Education is key for the longevity of the sector as well. The aviation industry must work with government to promote aircraft engineering as an exciting and rewarding career.
“We also need to align the training of apprentices so that they are educated and funded under a national framework, rather than under the current state and territory models.
"To help develop the training capacity required to build an innovation-oriented aircraft maintenance workforce, and to ensure that maintenance training makes a significant contribution to Australia’s education exports, a National Aerospace/Aviation College (NAAC) should be established.
“Now that we have identified the issues, we must immediately act to secure the future of aviation."
Both the now-defunct Aviation Recovery Framework and CASA's General Aviation Workplan acknowleged engineer shortages as a critical issue that need to be resolved to ensure the ongoing viability of the aviation in Australia.
In June this year, the RAAA pleaded with the new ALP government to put LAMEs on the Priority Migration Skilled Occupations List (PMSOL), which Minister for Immigration Andrew Giles declined to do, stating that the government was working to reduce visa processing times.