Critical Shortages in Aircraft Maintenance: Ensuring a sustainable future

The aviation industry faces a growing and crippling challenge - a severe shortage of skilled aircraft maintenance engineers - that demands a multifaceted and forward-thinking approach. This issue, although less visible for non aviation professionals than shortages in other aviation roles, is critical for maintaining the safety and efficiency of air travel.

As the baby boomer generation retires, the gap left behind is not being filled quickly enough by the younger Generation Z workers, leading to an urgent need for solutions. Predictions indicate a shortfall of 12,000 to 18,000 aviation maintenance workers over the next decade, and such shortage threatens to disrupt airline operations significantly, resulting in reduced aircraft availability, operational delays and financial losses.

Addressing the immediate needs requires a focus on maximizing productivity through digitization, handheld technology, and on-the-job training. Not only authorities or OEMs, but third parties are a key player for making aircraft maintenance industry ready for INDUSTRY 4.0

EASA has published the final report and a standalone executive summary of the Machine Learning Application Approval (MLEAP) project, which supports the EASA Artificial Intelligence (AI) Program, providing AI implementations for cases such as Automated Visual Inspections (AVI).This will offer a diagnostic assistance to reduce the aircraft maintenance duration for scheduled and unscheduled events. The main point is to find acceptable metrics to bring computer vision closer to classical problems, such as model development for surface damage detection.

Not only authorities or OEMs, but third parties are a key player for making aircraft maintenance industry ready for INDUSTRY 4.0, with big room for improving remote certification, robot devices for inspections such as preflight, lightning strikes or NDT, predictive maintenance tools, and Software Engineering to bring automation, resource efficiency and precision together.

As a matter of example, IMITec has developed a stunning Remote NDT Inspection device: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7tX94u1VmI

Simultaneously, the industry must invest in workforce development and retention, with early recruitment efforts by targeting middle and high school students, offering more competitive packages, modernizing training programs and establishing clear professional growth pathways.

Given the impending shortage, maintenance organizations also need to focus on productivity more than ever, integrating advanced technologies that automate routine tasks and streamline workflows. To make the most out of the available resources, companies should review maintenance programs to ensure that modifications and maintenance tasks are optimized, and use data analytics for process review and decision making eliminating waste through technology, such as clocking systems, barcoding, blockchain technology for certification (hopefully in the future implemented for EASA FORM 1), and generally Lean efficiency-focused principles and practices.

I am sure Industry 4.0 will bring the most sharped change to the "static" aviation industry, and will generate a tone of market opportunities for companies to develop products and services. By harnessing the power of advanced technologies and fostering a dynamic, inclusive workforce, the aviation maintenance sector can not only overcome its current challenges but also thrive in a new era of innovation and growth.