Aircraft engines don’t turn and burn without mechanics to turn wrenches. And analysts say the aerospace industry faces a shortage of mechanics — with no quick solution in sight. As highly skilled older workers age out of the career, their replacements cannot be recruited and trained overnight.
A recent forecast by Boeing said that worldwide, the industry will need 716,000 new maintenance technicians between now and 2043, with the greatest demand in Eurasia, which will need 167,000 new technicians; China, which will need 137,000; and North America, which will need 123,000.
The management consulting firm Oliver Wyman predicts 2027 will bring the most severe mechanic shortage, with a worse-case deficit of more than 48,000 maintainers in North America, which the firm said is a shortfall of about 27 percent.
