iscover
Ahead of the Australian Aviation Summit 2025, an aviation leader unpacks strategies to address talent shortages.
Approximately 36 per cent of occupations assessed in a Jobs and Skills Australia study were found to be in national shortage, with 332 out of 916 reporting a skills shortage in 2023, according to the Australian government data.
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
The main occupations experiencing talent shortages require a high level of skills and knowledge, qualifications and experience. Additionally, a high gender imbalance is another key feature of many skill shortage areas.
Ahead of his appearance at the Australian Aviation Summit, Justin Brownjohn, operations manager at RMIT Aviation Academy, said this issue is highly represented in Australia’s aviation sector.
One of Australia’s largest airlines carriers, Qantas, reported that only 7.5 per cent of its pilots are women, and only 4.3 per cent of engineers, leading to a massive gender imbalance in highly skilled aviation roles.
In addition to lack of gender diversity, the aviation sector is currently facing a plethora of challenges in attracting and retaining talent, according to Brownjohn.
“Australia’s aviation sector is experiencing labour shortages due to a combination of factors: post-COVID recovery lag, retirement of experienced professionals, limited domestic training capacity, and increased global competition for talent,” he told Australian Aviation.
An estimated 25,000 workers left the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic following mass staff cuts. Many workers retrained their positions in other industries as the sector recovered, leaving significant gaps in aviation’s skilled workforce.
“There is also the simple notion that aviation is not as attractive as it once was – it is no longer seen to be a glamourous industry.
“This change has been occurring with regularity over the past decade or so, but the attractiveness disappeared exponentially during COVID times and the post-COVID recovery,” he said.
Additionally, the aviation workforce is ageing at 1.4 times the national rate, according to government figures, with the average aviation worker aged 45 years and older.
The RMIT University Aviation Academy aims to combat talent shortages and inspire the next generation by investing in cutting-edge aviation education, training and research.
“At the RMIT Aviation Academy, we’re addressing this through developing long-standing partnerships with airlines, Defence and international partners to deliver industry-aligned training at scale.
“We’re also investing in faster training pathways, cross-sector career conversion programs and improved student progression metrics,” he added.
“To truly combat shortages, the industry must embrace collaborative workforce planning, invest in scalable education models and make aviation careers more accessible to diverse and under-represented communities,” Brownjohn said.
To hear Justin Brownjohn speak further on combating aviation’s skilled labour shortages, come along to the Australian Aviation Summit 2025.
Run in partnership with principal partner, Leidos, the summit will be held on Thursday, 14 August 2025 at Ilumina in Sydney. Click here to buy tickets.
To learn more about the summit, including the agenda and speakers, click here.
allister polkinghorne
says:Pip Spence points out in her latest message that in 1995, there were about 9,600 aircraft on the aircraft register and about 5,500 licensed aircraft maintenance engineers [LAMEs]. She also points out that there are now about 16,475 aircraft but doesn’t mention the number of LAMEs. Without running a Freedom of Information request, the best estimates of the number of LAMEs is about 3,200 split across the various categories. If the same ratio of LAMEs to aircraft were to apply today, there would be about 9,500 LAMEs in the industry.
Why has there been such a dramatic decline? There are many reasons but the principal reason is that the difficulty in obtaining an aircraft maintenance engineer licence which is expensive, time consuming and overly bureaucratic.
Bit of a sweeping statement? A single CASA Part 66 exam typically costs between $300 and $600 AUD depending on the module length and complexity.
To obtain a B1 licence with airframe, piston engine and turbine engine qualifications, at least 23 exams are required. They need to be done through a CASR part 147 provider or self study and the candidate needs to meet the practical experience requirements to qualify for a B1 licence.
In summary, the lengthy and cumbersome LAME licencing system is the major reason for the decline in the number of LAMEs.
Campbell Hunt
says:Aviation was once exciting for young people, when the days of visiting an airport was a thrilling adventure, whether looking at the little aeroplanes leaning on the low fence at your local country field, or enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of the big airliners from the viewing platforms at past major terminals. Now, local fields are behind high barbed wire fences with security gates, compulsory ASIC cards, while international terminals are glorified shopping centres, totally cut off from their primary function of aeroplane activity. Even airshows in Australia are mostly aimed at big business and big military, with the ordinary public segregated behind barriers (excepting Oshkosh in the US). Aviation is no longer a friendly and welcoming activity. And don’t get me started on the costs of involvement!