A Salus Aviation aircraft maintenance engineer. A shortage of skilled professionals has the industry concerned about impacts on the economy and travellers. Photo / Supplied
A big shortage of aviation engineers is jeopardising air travel and New Zealand’s economic future, an industry group says.
In response to shortages, the Government said no options would be ruled out to better train, recruit and retain highly qualified people in these roles.
However, it’s still not clear when any solutions might arrive.
The Aviation Industry Association (AIANZ) said funding for more aviation engineering places at formal training institutions was needed.
It said there was already a pilot training crisis, causing a deficit of about 100 pilots a year.
The association said more on-the-job training through apprenticeships was needed but the industry also had to support existing engineers, given the stressful nature of the work and the big responsibility linked to aircraft safety.
AIANZ said aviation businesses wanted to work with the Government, and a sustainable flow of new engineers and pilots was needed to support New Zealand’s broader economic growth.
“We’re already seeing delays for airline passengers and that’s because of a shortage of engineers to look at planes and fix planes when they need to be fixed,” said Simon Wallace, AIANZ chief executive.
He said Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) trained aviation engineers and the Air Force had a small number of trainees.
“Probably in total if you add in NMIT, Air New Zealand and the Royal New Zealand Air Force, you’re looking at not much more than around 100 formal training places available each year for aviation engineering students,” he told the Herald.
“There really are not enough funded places for aviation engineers in New Zealand.”
He said AIANZ research last year exposed the shortages and it seemed some 300 engineers a year would be needed to meet growing demand.
He said in general aviation – agriculture, contracting, search and rescue – there was also a shortage of engineers to fix aircraft in a timely manner.
His association has said the industry should do more to promote aviation engineering as a career.
“There’s a good career pathway for an aviation engineer,” he added.
“They can be earning a figure greater than a good six-figure salary. And a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer could be earning $70 an hour.”
Wallace said the sector was concerned education and transport officials weren’t taking the shortage seriously.
“The Government’s got this really ambitious ‘going for growth’ agenda, and aviation is a really key part of that, and we can’t deliver on that without having the workforce.”
Because of the shortage’s severity, aviation engineers were on the Immigration NZ green list of workers the country needed.
The roles concerned were aeronautical (aviation) engineer, aircraft maintenance engineer (avionics), aircraft maintenance engineer (mechanical) and aircraft maintenance engineer (structures).
“The Government’s about to go out to consultation again on the green list and we’ll be obviously pushing for engineers to remain on there but we can’t forever rely on immigrants to fill these gaps,” Wallace said.
“There has to be a commitment to train up New Zealanders into these roles as well.
“So we’re really concerned, and we don’t think it’s a big ask in terms of supporting more formal funding places at these institutions.”
Regarding what he’d heard back from the Government, he said: “It’s been radio silence.”
Lisa Holland, Salus Aviation general mananger of people and capability at South Auckland’s Ardmore Airport, said her business was keenly aware of the shortage.
Salus commonly worked with BK 117 helicopters, a medium-size, twin-engine machine developed by Kawasaki and Airbus Helicopters.
“We have the the maintenance side, where we have our engineers working on helicopters, maintaining helicopters.”
Salus also had a small base for fixed-wing aircraft in Hamilton.
“There’s been a definite shortage in this space for quite some time, to be fair. I mean even before Covid it was hard to find engineers.
“And then we’ve got our other side of the business, which is our overhaul workshops, and that’s extremely hard to find engineers [for], and we have to actually look overseas.”
She said people needed time and experience on the turbines, gearboxes and other equipment Salus Aviation worked on.
Holland said a few possible solutions could be considered.
“For us on the overhaul side, it would help for us to have some of these roles on the green list.”
She said in some cases involving work with certain engine and component types, the only people with the right experience were overseas.
“So we need assistance in that space. The other is actually just looking at how we can grow and develop our own talent, and what that looks like.”
She said Salus had its own apprenticeship scheme and would like to have more apprentices, but they needed supervision.
“There’s a couple of institutes that we obviously go to for talent who come into our apprenticeship programme.”
She said Salus was in touch with NMIT and Air New Zealand’s training centre.
“But I actually think some of it needs to even happen at school level.”
Holland said she hoped career advisers would tell school students about opportunities the sector presented.
“Once you have someone that goes through an apprenticeship and they become licensed, they can then get their different qualifications, which allows them to work on different aircraft types.”
An apprenticeship programme could take three years or more.
She said the responsibility these roles carried could be daunting for some young people but the profession also offered great opportunities to travel.
She said an aviation engineer with five years’ experience would typically be on about $100,000 a year.
Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran was also aware of the challenges.
“We’ve had to work really hard at it over the last two years to get more engineers,” he said.
“Some of those are internal. A lot have come in from overseas. They then get trained and qualified to work on a variety of aircraft.”
He said the airline wasn’t exactly where it needed to be in that area but was “within a whisker of being at the right level”.
James Meager, Associate Minister of Transport responsible for aviation, said government agencies had been working with the sector.
He said that included work with the AIANZ on the Interim Aviation Council to develop a plan for aviation in New Zealand, which would include addressing workforce issues.
“I’ve made it clear several times to the association that the aviation workforce, including the engineering workforce, is critical to the success of the whole aviation system, and training and retaining more engineers is a priority of mine.”
Meager said the Interim Aviation Council would focus on aviation workforce issues in its forthcoming aviation action plan, due for release in the coming weeks.
“My intention is to use that industry-led plan to build a substantial workforce development work programme alongside my ministerial colleagues and solve some of these long-standing workforce issues.”
The Herald asked Meager how open the Government was to increasing funding for aviation engineer training at institutes.
He said: “I am open to considering all options that will help train, retain and recruit more highly qualified individuals into these roles.”
Meanwhile, Wallace said the Government funded each NMIT and Air New Zealand training place for $9972 a year.
“With a total of around 80 places that’s about $800,000 annually, so provision for another 100 places does not come at a large cost, given the numbers.”
He said the students themselves had to invest about $5000 to $6000 each year.
“That’s reasonable when you consider what a university student pays to do a degree, so that’s not a barrier to entry. The barrier is the number of places that are available.”
Wallace said good performance in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects improved a person’s chances of getting into aviation engineering.
But for now, he said it was a matter of giving more school leavers and young people the chance to try aviation engineering as a career.
“We’ve got plenty of young Kiwis that want to do it.”
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation and courts. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.