Maintaining the edge?

Today’s pilot shortage has been on the radar for about 12 years, however the regional airlines like Rex and QantasLink are no longer ‘top feeders’ like Kendell, Hazelton, Sunstate, and Eastern were a dozen years ago. The management of these airlines today are very professional and probably much more commercially focused, however they also appear to be more disconnected from their staff than were the likes of Don Kendell and Max Hazelton, and this is contributing to staff attrition.

The engineering shortage has also been on the horizon for some time, albeit more subtly, yet few in the industry are taking adequate responsibility. Twenty years ago Qantas, Ansett, Hawker de Havilland and many others trained for attrition, so they got to keep the ‘best’ apprentices while at the same time kept up supply to the industry.

But sometime during the early 1990s airlines became far more commercially focused with much tighter cost controls. The bigger players are still top feeders and employers of choice, but they are no longer a community service provider to the rest of industry. Indeed, they now harvest labour from industry rather than supply to it.

In the 31 years that I have been in the industry, government has always supported apprentice training through TAFEs and other training organisations, and this is still true today – here in Queensland the state government continues to invest heavily. But government support is meant to be just that, ‘support’, for industry’s obligation to hire apprentices.

In my view we have two fundamental problems: The first is simply that the aviation industry is not hiring enough apprentices. This is unforgivable considering the fact a first year apprentice wage is only $240 per week, plus there are unfilled government funded training places in virtually every state. All the airlines in Australia and maintenance organisations should be hiring far more apprentices than they currently are, at least 50 to 100 per cent more.

The second is that the apprenticeships today are considered in the minds of managers and the public to be menial positions, and furthermore many senior managers appear to demonstrate insufficient respect for their technical people. Young people today are smart, well informed, and they do their homework regarding career choices. In a tight market for the best and brightest, why should young people choose a menial career or an employer that neither respects them nor their vocation? We as an industry all have a responsibility to increase the promotion and recognition of technical careers. Maybe it is time we introduce cadetships in place of apprenticeships? Here at Aviation Australia we have funded training places which remain unfilled, and we have unfilled demand from employers. The likes of Qantas, Boeing, Australian Aerospace and GE are employers of choice, however they and other companies that have sought to become employers of choice are doing much more today to attract and retain apprentices. We are even seeing some companies throwing the award away and paying people based upon their true worth, with some employers paying over $500 per week for their first year apprentices. We are also seeing employers refund or reward apprentices for their training expenses, and we are starting to see employers sponsor full time pre-vocational apprentices by targeting young people and providing them financial assistance to undertake full time training.

The new licensing structure introduced by CASA in 2007, plus the introduction of the B3 licence for smaller and less-complex GA aircraft, both offer major advantages for industry. The training providers in most states have already responded or will soon respond to ensure the training requirements are in place for the new licences.

Addressing our future aeroskills requirements needs immediate action by all airlines and MROs to hire more apprentices, to sponsor full time pre-vocational apprentices, get into the schools and community to promote the career opportunities and to enhance the recognition of technical careers. The federal government also needs to review its policies in regards to paying youth allowance to young people undergoing full time pre-vocational aeroskills courses. Currently the means test threshold is set far too low, which precludes many young people being able to afford living expenses while undertaking full time pre-vocational programs.

The pilot shortage which is starting to bite operators in Australia is only one ‘D Check’ ahead of the engineering crisis. However, it should be considered that it takes only one year to get a pilot into the right hand seat of a multi crew aircraft. It takes much longer to train an engineer – four years for a basic licence, and then another couple for some type ratings.

The problem has a simple fix: Hire more apprentices, take good care of them, and in six or seven years we will have sufficient people.

With no disrespect for my pilot friends, the Chinese aircraft maintenance industry has a saying; “You can teach a monkey to ride a bicycle, but you cannot teach a monkey to fix a bicycle.