Shortage of aircraft maintenance engineers worldwide

Cyberjaya: There is a need to overcome the worldwide shortage of aircraft maintenance engineers (AME).
Department of Civil Aviation director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the number of aircrafts has quadrupled in the past 20 years.
“In order to maintain these modern aircrafts, there is a need for people with special skills and attributes,” he said at the launch of Nilai International University College’s (NUC) diploma in aircraft maintenance engineering yesterday.
“There is a genuine shortage because of several factors that affected the aviation industry such as changing economies, the Sept 11 tragedy and SARS that resulted in no training being carried out for several years,” he said.
Farrow added that China alone needed 210,000 AMEs in the next five years.
NUC president Professor Emeritus Tengku Datuk Shamsul Bahrin said the aviation industry was rapidly expanding and as a result, the demand for AMEs will continue to grow.
He added that NUC was looking at the international market with the intention of attracting international students in line with making Malaysia an education hub.
Azharuddin, a former AME himself, said that AME was a very marketable profession as there was a worldwide demand for them.
The diploma will incorporate the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part 66 Category B1-1 syllabus, which will earn them an EASA Part 66 Category B1-1 aircraft maintenance licence that will allow graduates to seek immediate employment internationally.
This is the worldwide standard that is adopted by many countries around the world.
30/11/07 Ee-Lyn Tan/Malaysia Star, Malaysia