MRO Industry Grappling With Engineer Shortage

The maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry needs to boost the size
of its workforce to cope with the
world’ s growing feet of aircraft at a time when engineers are coming
under increasing pressure on the job,
making the industry less attractive to
new recruits.
“ This industry is 24/7 and has a harsh demand on a person’ s time,” says Alex Choo, assistant honorary
secretary of the Singapore Institute of
Aerospace Engineers (SIAE), as well as
a qualified engineer.
Choo was addressing delegates Nov. 2
at AVIATION WEEK ’ s MRO Asia conference and exhibition in
Singapore.
He says the shortage of skilled and
qualified maintenance engineers
means those that are in the industry
are being required to work longer hours.
Choo says many MRO firms are trying
to make up for their staff shortfall by
poaching from other MRO companies.
The other tactic MRO firms are using is
to recruit maintenance engineers from the air force or related industries such
as the marine industry, he says.

But a longer-term solution is to get
schools to include aerospace in their
curriculum, he says, referring to both
vocational training colleges as well as high schools.
Kingfisher Airlines Maintenance
Instructor Chander Mohan Bhatia told
delegates that the global economic
downturn in 2008 and 2009 saved
India’ s airline industry from experiencing an acute shortage in
engineers as well as pilots and cabin
crew. But he says now that the airline
industry is picking up again — and aircraft orders are being filled— we are going to get a shortage of manpower.
Even if MRO firms train new people, it
takes one and a half years for these
recruits to get up to speed and
become useful, he adds. He also
stresses that the MRO industry needs to ensure it recruits people with the
right attitude and aptitude.
The need to attract more people in the
industry has added impetus in
Singapore because the local
authorities have forecast that the city- state’ s new MRO hub, Seletar Aerospace Park, will create 10,000
jobs over five years, says Choo.