iscover
Emirates is looking to recruit Australian licensed aircraft maintenance engineers (LAMEs) amid an ongoing talent shortage in the sector.
The Gulf carrier will host information sessions in Sydney on 21 and 22 January for positions in Dubai as it seeks to bring on 17,300 new staff members across 350 roles this year. It comes as the local industry continues to struggle with a small talent pool of LAMEs.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
“We’ve invested US$950 million to build a new ultra-modern engineering facility at Dubai World Central,” Barry Brown, Emirates’s divisional vice president – Australasia, said.
“Those who come onboard Emirates will have the opportunity to work, learn, and push the boundaries of engineering and innovation at this new facility, which will be one of the largest and most advanced in commercial aviation.
“It will also be equipped to handle the full gamut of specialist aircraft engineering services.”
According to CASA’s annual report for 2024–25, as of 30 June last year, there were 10,178 LAMEs in Australia, up from 9,891 in 2024. The regulator has been taking steps to boost these numbers, including the implementation of a modular licensing system.
“The system allows individuals to attain a licence with exclusions and gradually expand their qualifications as they gain experience and pass additional exams,” the report read.
“LAMEs can remove exclusions from their licence category through a maintenance training organisation. CASA is also exploring another option – a self-study and examination pathway – to give LAMEs flexibility to choose the approach that suits them best.
“We expect this to particularly benefit LAMEs in regional and remote areas where accessing training organisations is more challenging and often requires significant time away from work.”
Rob Walker, chief executive of the Regional Aviation Association of Australia, which has long been sounding the alarm over the LAME shortage, told Australian Aviation it is something of a “silent crisis” in the industry.
“When pilots are in shortage, that’s well known and well understood, and as many of us know, the numbers are significant,” he said.
“But equally, with all those new aircraft being built and delivered, they also need to be maintained. There just aren’t enough licensed aircraft maintenance engineers around, and there aren’t enough people in the pipeline coming through.”
Walker said there is a definite risk of Australian LAMEs being enticed overseas by pay and conditions at large carriers like Emirates.
“In terms of other like-minded aviation countries around the world, be it in the US or in Europe or the Middle East, the Australian license is well-regarded,” he said.
“It’d be very easy for an Australian-licensed LAME to move overseas because of the skills that they’ve got and the level and the standard and the high quality of training that they get here in Australia.”
Walker said that while the industry can and should be working harder to encourage more LAMEs into the training pipeline, the accreditation process still takes time.
“The challenge the industry has is that there are other industries, be it any sort of trade – electricians or plumbers or carpenters – that can offer equally attractive conditions and a relatively seamless pathway,” he said.
“So, there’s no one thing that industry can be doing. It’s a combination of a whole lot of little things, and importantly, everybody’s talking about it now, but we are going to see this shortage for quite some time.”
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Australian Aviation a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Australian Aviation as a preferred news source.
[email protected]
says:A LAME in Oz with licences with extensions for say A380/B787/A350/A330 etc would be on a very pleasant rate of pay but when you consider the costs of housing in SYD, living costs, ankle biters and the incessant grab for your money by local Govts etal then the likes of EK comes and has a chat to you about what is on offer at DXB, – it is a no brainer, the possibly only chance in your lifetime that you will have of really setting yourself and your family up for ever has arrived, the fact that professionally you will be more satisfied, you will be exposed to more and varied cultures is an absolute moral boost to all your family and there are many other positives you probably wouldn’t experience here. Go grab the chance my friends you won’t regret it.