#AvGenY

My parents trace my love of flight back to when I used to sit in the backyard, staring up at the sky as the RAAF Roulettes practisedover our house. I’m not alone. You, I’m guessing, were probably the same, but perhaps you pressed your nose up against the glass in the terminal instead? 40 years ago, that passionate child could go to school and at 17 walk into Ansett, TAA or another operator, ask for an opportunity and be given a chance.

Sometime in the intervening 30 years a significant shift in attitudes occurred. It became nigh on impossible for a similar teenager to walk into a hangar and ask for a chance. While terrorism and security has played a small part, there’s something more to it than that.

Millennials in aviation

A 2013 study by the Financial Times estimated that by 2025, millennials or Generation Y will make up approximately 70 per centof the workforce. In aviation, this is predicted to be around 50-60 per cent – the direct result of the declining appeal of the industry to the millennial generation.

The world in which the millennial generation reached adulthood has been sombre. Events such as 9/11, SARS and the Global Financial Crisis that all had profound impacts on aviation, had arguably less of an impact on millennials because we have no perspective of ‘before’ and ‘after’ as older generations. Rather, growing up in this era of uncertainty is what we consider normal, and this has impacted our thinking and preparedness.

For this reason, we present both challenges and positives for the industry. First, on the whole we don’t read – ironic given this is a magazine – rather we engage across

That dis-engagement carries through to many who work in Australia’s airlines.

a range of information sources that we then integrate.

Pilot recruitment at Air Wisconsin and American Eagle identifies this as contributing to a ‘major weakness’ in that many candidates cannot interpret the raw data of METARs or AIPS. Instead, they rely on the decoded information in their smartphone. Alternatively, they are more responsive to mentoring and often have a better safety mindset easily understanding ‘just culture’.

Secondly, we’re recognised as entrepreneurial and financially savvy, both globally and personally. Many no longer see the cost-value relationship able to justify the $300 per hour aeroplane cost in an uncertain economy.

Thirdly, as a generation we’re socially liberal and disillusioned with two-party politics that is failing to deliver the infrastructure – such as a second Sydney airport – and regulatory reform we see as crucial for our future.

Nick, a CPL trainee and double degree student at Swinburne University, says “from a legal perspective, it can take years to get new legislation and regulations passed through in Australia, which can be very frustrating. ” His views are supported by William (26), who works for an air navigation service provider. “The industry remains, for many reasons, slow to adapt to new technologies, but we need to see the increased pressure on regulators to quicken the pace of the implementation which can deliver fairly significant savings to the airlines’ bottom line. ”

It’s about an attitude

Aviation, said Scottish industrialist William Weir in the 1920s, was “full of romance and practical possibilities”. A now-normalised logistical channel, for many that romanticism for aviation is about as strong as people’s love of the dentist.

For most of the population, flying today is a chore. Unfortunately, that disengagement carries through to many who work in Australia’s airlines, air navigation service provider and regulators.

The relatively small size aviation industry in Australia limits sideways or upwards movement, compounded by the uncertainty the industry faces, which has created a reluctance for those already entrenched to move on. That reluctance is fed by a fear of uncertainty that has translated into self-interest in job protection that ultimately impacts the next generation.

A 2012 study of 30 Western Michigan University (WMU) Aviation College students showed they were largely concerned that “aviation employers will prejudge them as members of Gen Y without knowing them as individuals”. The same students also felt they were stereotyped about their capabilities with these stereotypes seen as weaknesses.

Millennials moving into the industry often have a vastly broader base of experience, which can be unrelatable and disconcerting to their older peers. Nick says, “I hear from those who are currently flying commercially in their 40s and 50s they regret not having another academic qualification to fall back on to further their careers and rank in their airline. ” That is not to dismiss the importance of seniority or aviation experience. But, as a generation millennials have vastly different needs. They want to be shown a clearly defined career path, and will readily swap jobs if an employer can’t offer this. And they are supported by multiple degrees, have entrepreneurial or international experience, and demonstrate a general need to be empowered.

WMU students expressed the sameconcerns, one student saying “When I [attended] last year, I learned that some aviation professionals were afraid to retire because they were afraid of what my generation was going to do. ” As a result there is a feeling of unwillingness to hand down on-the-job industry experience, or interpret and apply the different experiences millennials bring. Yet companies are still not responding quickly enough to broaden the scope for career progression.

A change in approach to focus on interpreting these needs and assumed ‘weaknesses’ could generate significant business improvement in daily operations as well as significant events such as the Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud.

#avgeek

Generally speaking any hobby or pastime has a spectrum of participants from casual to obsessive. AvGeeks – Aviation Geeks – generally land (pun intended) somewhere between the middle to obsessive. With all his drawings and models, I’d hazard a guess that Leonardo da Vinci might have even been one if he were alive today.

It’s hard to trace the #avgeek phenomenon to a clear beginning and a person who first coined the term. Suffice it to say its usage began a few years ago on Twitter as a way for a group of aviation nuts outside of the industry to identify with each other.

The hashtag has grown to incorporate really anyone who shares a passion for all things aviation. An identification marker of sorts. A Twitter search for #avgeek will land you journalists, pilots, students, planespotters and a plethora of other people inside and outside the industry. While KLM, Singapore Airlines and Qantas have identified with AvGeeks for social media events, airlines on the whole remain relatively unconnected with this new industry voice.

However, there still remains an element of being surrounded by aviation and trying to surround yourself in it. For those outside the industry it provides an endorsement of their fascination of flying machines. As Airline Reporter’s David Brown explains it was hard to explain the population to the industry before #avgeek. Now “the term is getting around, I find that more people understand who we all are and what we are about. ” What #avgeek will deliver aviation is a more dynamic voice in industry affairs, allowing collaboration and discussion of ideas that truly befits such a globalised industry.

Liam (23) who works in airline IT says “airlines were making things up as we went, competitors worked together, and eventually we figured out how to handle it. There was no instruction book for what to do, instead we had people using their skill, instinct and knowledge of laws to come up with creative solutions to a complex problem. ” For an industry that prides itself on constant innovation and renewal the situation is ironic. To read articles and posts that recognise the millennial generation challenge, but conclude by dismissing it with a ‘things will be ok, general aviation will just get smaller’ attitude is also discouraging.

The industry shouldn’t be resigning itself to the fate that a declining number of young people are attracted by flight. A realisation is needed that perceived ‘weaknesses’ and new experience could actually be a strength for employers who make the effort to understand us.

The time has come for a shift in thinking and a new focus because it’s a fallacy for the broader Australian aviation industry to believe they are prepared for #AvGenY.