Global bodies are thinking out of the box on ways of addressing the looming manpower shortage in the air transport industry. They are pushing for the implementation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Next Generation of Aviation Professionals (NGAP) programme for member-states, including Nigeria, KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR reports.
Ageing workforce is becoming a hydra-headed problem in the global air transport industry. To this end, the over 193 member-state of the International Air Transport Association (ICAO) is being forced to return to the drawing board.
For instance, it is feared that crisis may be looming in the sector as there may not be enough pilots, aircraft engineers, avionics technicians and other professionals to cater to the needs of the projected increase in airlines.
Besides professionals in the employ of airlines, global concerns are also being raised about ageing workforce and shortage of air traffic controllers in Nigeria and other countries.
Experts say statistics from ICAO and other groups indicate that unless urgent steps are taken, the global industry may be heading for the rocks because of inadequate and ageing work force to drive growth.
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Director of Operations and Training Captain Abdulahi Sidi said the industry was facing a huge manpower challenge because the demand for professionals would exceed supply.
He listed the factors responsible as retirement, lack of attraction of employers to potential candidates, competition with other sectors for skilled employees, insufficient training to meet demand, learning methodologies not responsive to evolving learning styles, accessibility to affordable training and little or no awareness by the next generation of the professionals available.
Citing ICAO statistics, Captain Sidi said global airlines will, in the next 10 years, add 25,000 new aircraft to the 11,000-strong commercial fleet.
He said by 2026, the industry would need 480,000 technicians to maintain the fleet of aircraft expected to be flown by over 350,000 pilots.
He said ICAO was worried over the trend and had designed a solution .
Sidi said: ” ICAO’s solution was the establishment of the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals (NGAP) taskforce.
“This taskforce consists of 29 representatives from industry, education and training providers, regulatory bodies and international organisations. This taskforce will help to ensure enough qualified and competent aviation professionals are available to operate manage and maintain the future international air transport system.
“A global aviation community that has sufficient competent human resources to support a safe and sustainable air transport system.
“To develop strategies, best practices, tools, standards and guidelines as applicable and to facilitate information-sharing activities to assist the global aviation community in attracting educating, and retaining the next generation of aviation professionals.
“The lack of succession plan and its mitigation is the bane of aging workforce. Serving aviation professionals should see to it that their subordinates are exposed to every aspect of their job as features successor.
It has become incumbent on operators, governments and stakeholders to sponsor training of candidates pursuing aviation careers.
Against this backdrop, a firm, Mamaj Aviation Consult Limited, has put together a career conference in Lagos, with the theme: “Inspiring the Next Generation of aviation professionals”, to examine the challenges of ageing work force.
The convener, Joy Ogbebo, said one way to address the shortage of aviation professionals was for countries and organisations to initiate the mentoring of the younger generation to attract them to the sector.
She said the forum highlighted the strategic role human capital development could play in the industry. Ogbebo said the conference also provided an avenue to examine the role of career guidance in capacity building as well as introduce youths to career opportunities in the aviation industry.
Ogbebo said the conference created a platform to introduce aspiring aviators to career choices and assist them to identify the key skills set required as well as connect them with relevant aviation training organisations.
She said it was time the government and some of her agencies, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), started investing in training and education of youths.
Ogbebo said it was late for the country to invest in the training of younger aviation professionals .
She said: “We need to start investing in the career development of our youth to channel their interest into aviation professions, including piloting, cabin crew, air traffic control services, flight dispatchers, avionics technicians, aero -medical personnel, airline economists and other endeavours.
” We need to take proactive steps to develop human capital. There is no better time to invest in the next generation of aviation professionals than now. If we must have a better future , we must create it. The time is now. What should we do? We need aviation universities where out youth can kick start their journey into the aviation industry in their early stages. We need to focus more on career guidance from secondary school.”
A market forecast by Airbus indicated that Africa would need 1,000 commercial jets and 21,700 new pilots in the next 20 years.
American aircraft manufacturer Boeing Company estimated that Africa would demand 18,000 new pilots and 22,000 technicians over the same period.
Studies indicate that in the next 20 years, new aircraft will need to be commanded by qualified pilots and maintained by skilled technicians as well as competent air traffic controllers.
Experts at the Aviation Professionals Forum in Africa called on airline executives and African aviation authorities to take urgent steps to address insufficient training capacity as well as an exodus of skilled manpower as part of the reasons for the shortage of aviation professionals in Africa.
ICAO Secretary-General, Fang Liu said: “All of us in Africa are concerned. But to further develop aviation, human capacity is key. As we know there a gap between the number of professionals sought and the training capacity in particular in Africa. Taking all these into consideration, the need for capacity building has become necesary. If the necesary manpower must be made ready for the future of aviation, then the need for capacity building as a proactive step has become necessary. “A few weeks ago, National President of National Association of Air Traffic Controllers (NATCA), Abayomi Agoro called on Federal Government to increase the retirement age of air traffic controllers from 60 to 65 years to give room for newly recruited ones to catch up from the old hands before leaving the system.
He said : “What ICAO stipulated was about 700 air traffic controllers and, as at that time, I don’t think we had up to 27 airports and airfields. Some states are still trying to build new airports, so, it means that the less than 350 air traffic controllers is inadequate and we also try as much as possible to tell the government to increase the retirement age of air traffic controllers from 60 to 65 to bring balance.”
He noted that the number of ATCS in the country was not enough to man the various airports across the country, but commended the management of NAMA for recruiting more ATCs in recent years, saying that the country’s airspace remained one of the safest in the world.
“I don’t want the government to leave everything in the hands of NAMA. For example, we are trying to let the government understand that there is need to give NAMA additional funds to train not only air traffic controllers, but also the technical professionals in the agency, whereby maybe they should get some allocations from BASA fund. There is the need for human capital development and NAMA alone cannot shoulder the responsibility. So, I feel the government should do that maybe by allocating a special fund dedicated for training mostly the technical staff . ”
He said a special fund dedicated to training of mostly technical staff would further enhance safety.