The 2018 Pipeline Report

Each year, ATEC compiles information about FAA airframe and powerplant (A&P) mechanic certificate holders, the aviation maintenance technician schools (AMTS) that prepare the majority of those individuals for careers in aviation maintenance, and the companies that employ maintenance professionals. These compilations are published annually as The Pipeline Report.

The purpose of the report is to identify workforce trends and propose some solutions to help meet the growing workforce demand.

​The report’s key conclusions:

• Mechanics continue to retire faster than they are being replaced. ATEC’s model projects that the mechanic population will decrease 5% in the next 15 years. New entrants make up 2% of the population annually, while 30% of the workforce is at or near retirement age. Meanwhile, forecasts by the U.S. government and Boeing project a need for thousands of additional mechanics in the next 10-20 years.
• Schools have the capacity to help close this gap. Right now, only 1 in 2 seats in technical schools are taken, meaning that today, an additional 17,000 students can be accommodated without any school expansion. While institutions are ramping up recruitment activities and expect enrollment to increase, there is significant opportunity for industry employers to help define career paths and attract more students into the pipeline.

(Click image to download full report)

• In 2017, the number of students choosing non-aviation jobs over their aviation counterpart dropped by nearly half over the previous year. More good news: seventy percent of A&P students are taking the FAA mechanic exam upon graduation, a 10-point increase over the previous two years.
• AMTS are facing their own workforce challenges. Hiring and maintaining qualified instructors is the number one threat to increased enrollments. Negative perceptions and a lack of career awareness is also adversely impacting student recruitment efforts, suggesting the time is ripe for development of a national campaign to increase knowledge and understanding of aviation technical careers.

Read the Dec. 17 press release, industry-making-progress-filling-aviation-maintenance-technician-gap-but-pace-of-success-must-accelerate-to-avoid-shortages-report-finds.html