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Africa|Aviation|Environment|Service|System|Training|transport|Maintenance|Solutions|Operations
Africa|Aviation|Environment|Service|System|Training|transport|Maintenance|Solutions|Operations
africa|aviation|environment|service|system|training|transport|maintenance|solutions|operations

Aircraft technical skills impacted by Covid-19 disruption

7th December 2021

By: Donna Slater

Features Deputy Editor and Chief Photographer

     

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Technical skills needed within the aviation industry have diminished during the Covid-19 pandemic as several air corridors scaled down operations and air traffic generally slowed down in comparison to pre-pandemic levels, aviation solutions company Safomar Aviation CEO Shai Shalem said on December 7.

Speaking at the Commercial Aviation Symposium Africa, he said the negative impact on aircraft technical skills was characterised by a dramatic drop in aircraft passenger transport.

As a result of grounded aircraft and reduced maintenance throughout the pandemic, Shalem noted that aircraft fleets were reduced and orders for new aircraft cancelled or put on hold.

However, he said the shutdown and return-to-service of airlines have led to many changes and a revolution in the aviation operating environment, which will continue to evolve until the industry reaches “some sort of new normal, which is still to be seen”.

“This means that organisations need to address the management of change effectively and regulators need to engage with organisations to ensure the results are safe and effective,” said Shalem.

Aircraft technician training is becoming the “most critical factor” in the restart process of airlines and airline support operations, he stated.

However, Shalem said there was a lack of sufficient aircraft technician training facilities – a factor that will lead to a backlog in training. “This means that personnel will not have received the necessary recurrent or refresher training with consequent effect on performance.”

Further, he said existing aircraft technicians are generally older and when they retire there is likely to be a significant gap in the industry between highly-skilled technicians and apprentices.

“The only support system [to the long-serving fully-qualified technicians] is a handful of long-time aircraft apprentices. Although funding has not been available to actually train aircraft engineers in the past, another large contributing factor is the lack of knowledge relating to careers available within the industry for private-funded students,” said Shalem.

“[The] Covid-19 impact on industry increased the rate of loss of skills due to retrenchments, early retirements and lack of confidence in the aviation industry future. Training, refresher courses, trade tests, specific aircraft-type ratings renewed at a much slower pace [as the industry has emerged from the pandemic],” he said.

“For years, investment in trade skills has been practically non-existent from the regulatory bodies to the department of education and the lack of foresight from the powers that be,” Shalem added.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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