Aircraft Maintenance Technology

MAY 2017

The aircraft maintenance professional's source for technological advancements, maintenance alerts, news, articles, events, and careers

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www.AviationPros.com 29 will make its planes? Who will fly them? Who will maintain them? For its part, Atlanta-based ExpressJet Airlines sees opportunity in these challenges. ExpressJet, employs about 6,200 people of which just under 25 percent are maintenance personnel. The company operates 10 maintenance bases to support its fleet of more than 270 aircraft serving over 170 airports. ExpressJet's fleet offers some clues about the company's talent acquisition requirements. Ever mindful of its competitive environment, ExpressJet operates modern regional jets built using advanced manufacturing methods and equipped with state- of-the-art computerized avionics. The link between ExpressJet's business plan and its talent acquisition objectives is clear. Competitive advantage accrues to airlines able to exploit technol- ogy to reduce maintenance costs while increasing capacity utilization. Maintaining a close connection between its busi- ness objectives and the quality of its workforce is motivating ExpressJet to explore new avenues for acquiring its talent. Notable in ExpressJet's approach is how the company translates the vitality and can- do attitude of its employees into benefits for its customers. An introductory video on the company's website (www.expressjet.com) neatly makes the business case for maintaining a workforce that "… takes ownership in everything (it does), driven by a belief in getting the job done right because anything else is unacceptable." ExpressJet's talent acquisition strategy is also shaped by the company's view of its position in the industry. The company sees itself both as a consumer and supplier in the aviation industry talent supply chain, a realistic recognition that regional carriers provide a pipeline of talent for mainline carriers. It's also a crucially important business reality to acknowledge in a talent market where abso- lute numbers of job candidates may be declining. There's a widespread view that when it comes to acquiring talent, if employers cannot get enough of what they need, they must get the best of what's available. MEETING A NATIONWIDE NEED FOR TALENT WITH A NATIONAL TALENT SUPPLY CHAIN With its international service footprint (ExpressJet serves North America and the Caribbean), and facing industry talent shortage and skills gaps, ExpressJet sk talent acquisition leaders in America's $70 billion aviation maintenance and manufacturing industry what has their attention nowadays, you're likely to get two short, and very cryptic, answers: "talent shortage" and "skills gap." Let's take them in turn. First, the shortage: In commercial aviation, a 2016 report by the Boeing Company estimates a global need for 617,000 pilots, 679,000 airline maintenance technicians and 814,000 new cabin crew over the next 20 years. Subsequently, over the same period in the U.S., 112,000 pilots, 118,000 airline maintenance tech- nicians, and 169,000 cabin crew will be needed. Comparable forecasts in business aviation paint a similar picture. As for skills, the increasing complexity of the newest generation of aircraft has exposed a gap between the skills aviation personnel are gener- ally taught and the skills employers now need in their workforce. "I hold an A&P; license," said an airline maintenance executive, "and I know that the training I received to get that license would not prepare people to perform today's aviation mainte- nance technician roles." This skills gap appears to beg three questions for the aviation industry: Who TALENT SOLUTIONS Coalition is retained by employers to help them develop talent supply chains to provide technical, supervisory, managerial, and leadership talent. EXPRESSJET A

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