Skills investment key to future growth

Aviation Australia CEO and Managing Director Paul Bredereck is encouraging industry to invest in apprentices and trainees now in order to avoid a skills shortage when the economic climate improves.

"The worrying trend across the industry is that there are not enough apprentices being put on," Bredereck told ABM.

"Just a small ramp up now will make a huge difference in terms of skills in five years' time."

"The big concern we have, and what research is telling us, is that when the industry turns around, many organisations are not going to be in a position to capitalise on the good times and hence make profits, because they will have inadequate skills.

"From an industry point of view, what we're seeing is that there is a three to five per cent net decline in capability in terms of manpower, skills and intellectual capital across MROs and the maintenance side of airlines in Australia, and to a degree across the Asia-Pacific region.

That's primarily driven by economic conditions."

According to Bredereck, another concern is that airlines in Australia, Asia and the Middle East are budgeting for future savings based on reductions in manpower as a result of the introduction of new aircraft like the Airbus 380 and Boeing 787.

Bredereck said he was concerned the introduction of new aircraft technologies would not lead to the expected level of manpower cuts.

"I believe the manpower reductions that have been budgeted for as a result of transition from current platforms to new platforms have been grossly overestimated.

"What research is showing us is that we're getting towards the limits of human efficiency and the limits of compliance requirements.

"We're not going to see the same level of manpower reduction that we had from aircraft designed in the 1960s, for example, to today.

"In the end, you can't fly aircraft, can't take care of passengers, can't maintain aircraft without pilots, cabin crew, and engineers.

"There is simply a minimum number of people required to keep an aircraft in the air."

Women in aviation
Bredereck said that Aviation Australia had recently launched a major initiative to create awareness for careers for women in aviation.

"We've noticed a low level of women in engineering courses," Bredereck said.

"We need the best talent for the industry, and we've got to get better at attracting women, far more than we have in the past, to the less traditional technical roles.

"Over the years we have found that women in many cases can be better than men at handling complex tasks involving multiple processes. And with employers lining up to hire our female graduates
obviously industry thinks so as well."

Aviation Australia is launching a dedicated micro website, accessible through the Aviation Australia site, profiling the careers of prominent women in the aviation industry.

The site will be live in time for the Careers Expo on 8 August 2009, and will be part of an ongoing program to promote the role of women in the industry.

Developing pathways
Aviation Australia is also in the process of increasing the number of engineering courses it offers, and developing higher education pathways for students.

"We're taking a cradle-to-grave approach to our apprentices' careers," Bredereck said.

"In things like aircraft maintenance, the higher pathways are not really there.

"Often people need to step out of the aviation industry in order to get certain skills, for example an MBA which is not specific to aviation."

Bredereck said that while the organisation was not increasing its apprentice intake in the current economic climate, it would be maintaining numbers and continuing to grow its presence in Asia and the Middle East with a "business as usual" attitude.

"Australia still possesses some of the best talent in the world when it comes to engineering," Bredereck said.

"Our instructors have technical backgrounds, and passion and talent as educators and mentors, and we're making sure there are enough trainees that are well trained and well skilled to fill capability gaps in the industry in Queensland and the region."