The Federal Aviation Administration is awarding 32 U.S. educational institutions $13.5 million in grants to address the aviation skills shortfall, attracting students to pursue careers as pilots and maintenance technicians.
One way the industry is working to tackle the gap is to encourage higher representation of women and minorities in these critical operations careers, where they have historically been grossly underrepresented.
The Growing Aviation Skills Gap
The aviation industry is working to overcome a gap between the skills required to support projected growth as air travel demand returns.
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The International Air Transport Association has reported that “staff and skill shortages have become more widespread and apparent in the post-pandemic world. Challenges with recruitment have been reported across the aviation value chain from ground handlers to airline staff and air traffic controllers, with visible operational disruptions across various countries since 2022.”
Addressing the Pilot Shortage
To better understand the global aviation skills gap, IATA conducted a Global Skills Survey in 2022, revealing some hurdles in attracting and retaining aviation professionals. Predictably, the main reason identified for the staffing gap in pilots is “both the cost of training and ‘time to train.’”
An inability to attract a younger generation to pursue careers as pilots presents a challenge for the industry, especially as more experienced pilots retire.
In the U.S., FAA regulations ban commercial airlines from employing pilots to operate flights after they reach the age of 65. While there has been a push to raise the retirement age, the FAA sees a need for more data on the potential impact on flight safety.
The IATA survey found regional differences in how potential recruits perceive pilot careers. While it remains an attractive career path in Africa and the Middle East, it is less so in Europe and the Americas. Despite ongoing programs to include more women and people of color, the industry has a long way to go in diversifying its workforce to address the critical skills shortage.
Women comprise 4% to 6% of the world’s airline pilots and only 4.9% of U.S. airline pilots.
The IATA survey also found room for improvement in the pilot training curriculum. IATA reported that 71% of the training budget is dedicated to developing technical skills, while other critical “soft skills,” like communication, receive a lesser share (29%).
Twelve schools will receive $4.5 million from the FAA’s Aircraft Pilots Aviation Workforce Development Grants program. The funding will help develop programs encouraging high school students to become pilots, aerospace engineers, or drone operators.
The FAA grants can also help fund teachers’s professional development. These awards help develop aviation skills in some underprivileged areas.
For example, the Beaufort County Schools in Washington, North Carolina, received a $374,930 grant from the FAA to develop a blended in-person and online educational program to train future airline pilots and drone operators, targeting a diverse student body. “The program will address the lack of aviation opportunities for minorities and underprivileged students,” the FAA states in the award announcement.
Developing The Next Generation Of Aviation Maintenance Professionals
Another challenge for the airline industry is recruiting and retaining maintenance, engineering, and technical professionals. The IATA survey found that the skills gap can be attributed to multiple alternative opportunities for those with maintenance and engineering skills to pursue careers in other industry sectors, with aviation maintenance and technician careers requiring a longer timeline to gain the necessary certification.
According to the authors of the IATA survey report, “Respondents said that the number one barrier to attracting new candidates to the industry was related to the long (up to four years) and cumbersome training and licensing programs, such as for a licensed technician or mechanic. They believe the industry will soon face issues in refilling vacant positions with new talent.”
They added that a “lack of mutual recognition of qualifications across the various aviation authorities increases the cost and time of recertification when employees transfer between countries.”
As a strategy to address the skills gap, IATA recommended “working with universities to develop a curriculum that can attract new entrants.” They also proposed implementing performance-based training to enable harmonization of qualifications across regions making it easier for skilled aviation maintenance professionals to get jobs across borders.
The FAA reported that “approximately 20,000 fewer people are working in the aircraft maintenance sector than before the pandemic.” The Administration has allocated $9 million to 20 U.S. institutions under its Aviation Maintenance Technical Workers Workforce Development program to address the shortfall.
Grant recipients can fund new educational programs, offer scholarships or apprenticeships, and conduct community outreach to promote careers in aviation maintenance. They can also support education on aviation maintenance in economically disadvantaged areas.
Only 2.6% of aviation maintenance technicians are women.
One grant recipient, AAR Services was awarded a $500,000 grant to grow the number of apprentices at its maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities “through a combination of cohort hiring of female technicians, expanding the number of transitioning military personnel choosing aviation technical careers,” according to the FAA’s announcement of the grant. AAR will also make more apprenticeships available for high school students. AAR’s program will “work with EAGLE Career Pathway schools to reach qualified candidates including women and students of color.”
Making Room For More Women In Aviation
Despite the critical skills gap and high demand for qualified staff, the aviation industry has lagged far behind in representation. After relying on women to build, maintain and fly critical aircraft during the Second World War, the aviation industry turned tail in favor of men in peace time, and hasn’t looked back.
Women are marginalized in all roles, representing less than 20% of the combined workforce. This percentage is boosted by the only exception—cabin crew—where women make up 79.2% of the workforce. Women hold only 3% of CEO positions in aviation.
“While participation of women in the workforce has increased dramatically over the past four decades, despite all efforts, the percentage of women in the aviation industry hasn’t appreciably changed,” Dr. Heather Wilson, Chair of the Women in Aviation Advisory Board said in a 2022 report on breaking barriers for women in aviation. “The biggest barrier that discourages women from entering and staying in aviation careers is culture – and it is the hardest to change. Women don’t feel like they belong. Changing culture requires consistent leadership commitment over time in thousands of large and small actions across government and industry. It’s hard work. It’s time to get started.”
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