David James Varnes

AIRLINES and MRO's IN CANADA WILL FACE A SEVERE MECHANICAL TRADES SHORTAGE    Airlines and airline manufacture, overhaul and repair facilities (MRO's) in Canada will face a severe mechanical trades crisis within five years, say many airline industry observers. This crisis will result in reduced flight availability for Canadian travelers and a huge economic loss for the nation.    The chart above displays the average number of airline employees, by group, from 2012-2017. Corporate human resource conventional wisdom holds that your employee replacement rate should be around ten per cent. This percentage covers attrition for promotions, retirements, long term illnesses, terminations, resignations, and unpredictable events. With the exception of the airline management group which has declined in numbers, the remaining groups have kept pace with attrition, except for the maintenance personnel group, whose numbers increased by only three per cent.    The industry crisis po