Young faces in the crowd

Regional aviation in particular has been the entry for many successful careers. However, there are at least two clear challenges. How do we attract quality people and how do you retain them once there is an economic upswing? Industry entry costs can be very high, particularly for pilots, and wage levels across all sectors are competing with the conditions available in other industries, both domestic and international.

In addition how can we further encourage young aviation entrepreneurs, or entrepreneurs in general, who have new ideas for services and products? These are the people who are again establishing Australia as an aviation force and who are keenly aware of the emerging middle-class in Asia and the sub-continent.

Those companies at the top of the aviation tree have a relatively easy ride because they will mine other aviation sectors for staff during an economic recovery. It is ironic that that the regional sector usually achieves some staff stability during recessions. This is a market reality but it does make things especially tough for the hard-working regional operator. They can easily put in months of work recruiting the right people, training them fully and then see them disappear at the first sign of an upturn.

What might attract young people to the regional sector is the diversity of the locations, roles and a sense of independence. It is not unusual for regional operators to have training schools, charter, mail and bank runs, fire-spotting, tourist ventures, Fly- in Fly-out ops and RPT. In addition, let’s not forget the vital role that aero-medical plays. A wide variety of aircraft are used for these tasks and staff often have input to management discussions outside their immediate roles. Countering this is that commercial aviation is a highly regulated industry, sometimes to the point of frustration. It is a disciplined environment, often requiring long hours and an ability to adjust quickly to changing customer or operational needs.

The number of routes flown has been trending down for some time as operators move to larger aircraft and older, less economical aircraft are retired. There are signs that this downward trend is slowing particularly as the resources sector begins to recover. Regional operators have the flexibility to try new routes which gives the local region a chance to sample air travel for business and personal reasons, and hopefully get behind the service.

There is little doubt that regional aviation will play an increasing role throughout this century in opening up Australia to further growth opportunities. Mission specific fixed and rotary wing aircraft are in the field already and more are on the drawing boards. Due to a lack of water and vast distances, Australia cannot sustain a large number of population centres so will increasingly rely on regional aviation for a significant proportion of its essential services.

This is the message we need to give to young people and to the next generation of regional aviation leaders. There are exciting aviation professions on your doorstep. You will be making a valuable contribution to Australia’s regional development. In media terms we haven’t as yet achieved message ‘cut-through’ but we must not give up. A supportive regulator, innovative government policy and an industry that believes in its own potential will go a long way to achieving the goal of attracting tomorrow’s aviation professionals.