<p>Arguably the largest maintenance-focused event in Europe takes place in London this week and it comes at a time when airlines around the continent are under heavy pressure, four of them having just been shut down in a short space of time.</p>
<p><img alt="Female Engineer" src="/getasset/49e5c63f-9b4d-45f4-9f7e-54e6df3f93cd/" /></p>
<p>Among the aircraft maintenance community, this has meant more people seeking new employment in the market. Thankfully, there is a growing number of positions available, according to Paul Conway, managing director of aviation recruitment and project specialist company, Qualitair.</p>
<p>“If you use the number of vacancies as a barometer, then there certainly are a growing number of permanent positions,” Conway confirms. “There are expansions going on. KLM UK Engineering is expanding, opening a new hangar. And SR Technics in Malta is expanding, opening a new facility with six bays. We are seeing an increasing number of positions.</p>
<p>“The temporary positions have steadily grown over the last four years that I’ve been with Qualitair. We’ve increased from around 300,000 manhours a year delivered and this year that figure is going to be at about 470,000. Although that’s more than a 50% increase, I’m not saying the market has increased by that, because we captured new business. Some of it though is organic growth within our existing client base,” he adds.</p>
<p>“Also we’re seeing that the number of permanent positions that we’re being asked to support has really increased. I suspect that that’s in order to allow companies to uplift the temporary [staffing] as well, because of the EASA rate around the ratios of temporary versus permanent.”</p>
<p>In addition to Conway noting specific companies growing, he identifies geographic hotspots of activity. “We’re seeing that Lithuania is really growing, with FL Technics and Magnetic MRO. We’re also seeing a growth in Malta with Lufthansa Technik, Medavia and SR Technics. These are the regions with the growth in MRO – mainly with single-aisle aircraft,” he remarks. “I’d say that the UK is slipping backwards, which comes through the likes of Monarch disappearing, and recently Thomas Cook Airlines. They both had quite large MROs.”</p>
<p>Conway’s emphasis on both permanent and temporary positions relates to the fact that, in addition to placing candidates in permanent jobs, Qualitair actually has its own trained maintenance personnel for temporary roles. “Basically, we’re loaning customers our staff,” he confirms.</p>
<p>This means that Qualitair gets involved in taking graduates from training schools. “In the Netherlands, for example, the employment model is different. It’s not a ‘freelancer’, it’s an ‘employed temporary worker’,” the MD explains. “We invest more in those because it’s an employed person that we’re taking on. “We use the training as a means of attracting workers to come to us from other MROs or the academies like the ROC in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>“We’re really pushing that. We’ve put some advertising out recently saying that ‘If you come with us, we’ll get you from a basic position (straight from an academy) to an A-licence then to a B-licence-type training’. That’s a way of attracting people towards us.”</p>
<p>Although this ‘employed temporary workers rather than freelancers’ situation is not unique to the Netherlands, it is currently unlike the UK. “IR35 [described on the UK Government’s website as ‘Off-payroll working rules for clients, workers and their intermediaries’] is going to change that because, come April 2020, most of our workers who are currently freelancers – self-employed – will become employed,” Conway elaborates. “If you use the HM Revenue & Customs guidelines as to whether someone is self-employed versus somebody they are standing next to in a hangar, the chances are that they would not be considered self-employed. They don’t determine when they start or when they finish, their shift rosters and who does what – the client determines that.”</p>
<p>For those recently affected by airline closures, Conway has some optimism from the time of the Monarch bankruptcy. Its MRO, Monarch Aircraft Engineering Limited (MAEL) was a sizeable third-party provider with its Luton and Birmingham facilities plus an “enormous” line maintenance set-up.</p>
<p>Quite a few of MAEL’s MRO personnel passed through Qualitair and many found something within a year. “If they had wanted to, they could have had work immediately,” Conway recalls. “But I think we are talking about people want to be employed, in the UK, at an MRO. Probably many had been at MAEL for 20+ years.</p>
<p>“Those individuals had probably never had any motivation to update a CV and possibly had never even written a CV. From what I gleaned from the requests and enquiries we received, most of them were not looking to go contracting around Europe. Some did, just for an experience – the younger ones – but for the most part they were looking to stay roughly where they were and get a solid job.</p>
<p>“I’m sure that easyJet and TUI at Luton took a number of them. I think the challenge was around the Birmingham area, where there is not a huge amount of MRO activity, except maybe in line maintenance. Other than that, they would have had to look to East Midlands Airport, maybe Manchester.”</p>
<p>Also at that time, Qualitair literally went more than the extra mile to help its job seekers. “We flew a group across to the Netherlands to let them look around the KLM Engineering & Maintenance facilities, just to see what was out there. They even spoke with the KLM E&M management team,” Conway reports.</p>
<p>It’s never a good thing to suddenly have your immediate livelihood taken away from you. Having organisations like Qualitair, however, means that it does not necessarily have not be for long.</p>
<p><img alt="Female Engineer" src="/getasset/49e5c63f-9b4d-45f4-9f7e-54e6df3f93cd/" /></p>
<p>Among the aircraft maintenance community, this has meant more people seeking new employment in the market. Thankfully, there is a growing number of positions available, according to Paul Conway, managing director of aviation recruitment and project specialist company, Qualitair.</p>
<p>“If you use the number of vacancies as a barometer, then there certainly are a growing number of permanent positions,” Conway confirms. “There are expansions going on. KLM UK Engineering is expanding, opening a new hangar. And SR Technics in Malta is expanding, opening a new facility with six bays. We are seeing an increasing number of positions.</p>
<p>“The temporary positions have steadily grown over the last four years that I’ve been with Qualitair. We’ve increased from around 300,000 manhours a year delivered and this year that figure is going to be at about 470,000. Although that’s more than a 50% increase, I’m not saying the market has increased by that, because we captured new business. Some of it though is organic growth within our existing client base,” he adds.</p>
<p>“Also we’re seeing that the number of permanent positions that we’re being asked to support has really increased. I suspect that that’s in order to allow companies to uplift the temporary [staffing] as well, because of the EASA rate around the ratios of temporary versus permanent.”</p>
<p>In addition to Conway noting specific companies growing, he identifies geographic hotspots of activity. “We’re seeing that Lithuania is really growing, with FL Technics and Magnetic MRO. We’re also seeing a growth in Malta with Lufthansa Technik, Medavia and SR Technics. These are the regions with the growth in MRO – mainly with single-aisle aircraft,” he remarks. “I’d say that the UK is slipping backwards, which comes through the likes of Monarch disappearing, and recently Thomas Cook Airlines. They both had quite large MROs.”</p>
<p>Conway’s emphasis on both permanent and temporary positions relates to the fact that, in addition to placing candidates in permanent jobs, Qualitair actually has its own trained maintenance personnel for temporary roles. “Basically, we’re loaning customers our staff,” he confirms.</p>
<p>This means that Qualitair gets involved in taking graduates from training schools. “In the Netherlands, for example, the employment model is different. It’s not a ‘freelancer’, it’s an ‘employed temporary worker’,” the MD explains. “We invest more in those because it’s an employed person that we’re taking on. “We use the training as a means of attracting workers to come to us from other MROs or the academies like the ROC in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>“We’re really pushing that. We’ve put some advertising out recently saying that ‘If you come with us, we’ll get you from a basic position (straight from an academy) to an A-licence then to a B-licence-type training’. That’s a way of attracting people towards us.”</p>
<p>Although this ‘employed temporary workers rather than freelancers’ situation is not unique to the Netherlands, it is currently unlike the UK. “IR35 [described on the UK Government’s website as ‘Off-payroll working rules for clients, workers and their intermediaries’] is going to change that because, come April 2020, most of our workers who are currently freelancers – self-employed – will become employed,” Conway elaborates. “If you use the HM Revenue & Customs guidelines as to whether someone is self-employed versus somebody they are standing next to in a hangar, the chances are that they would not be considered self-employed. They don’t determine when they start or when they finish, their shift rosters and who does what – the client determines that.”</p>
<p>For those recently affected by airline closures, Conway has some optimism from the time of the Monarch bankruptcy. Its MRO, Monarch Aircraft Engineering Limited (MAEL) was a sizeable third-party provider with its Luton and Birmingham facilities plus an “enormous” line maintenance set-up.</p>
<p>Quite a few of MAEL’s MRO personnel passed through Qualitair and many found something within a year. “If they had wanted to, they could have had work immediately,” Conway recalls. “But I think we are talking about people want to be employed, in the UK, at an MRO. Probably many had been at MAEL for 20+ years.</p>
<p>“Those individuals had probably never had any motivation to update a CV and possibly had never even written a CV. From what I gleaned from the requests and enquiries we received, most of them were not looking to go contracting around Europe. Some did, just for an experience – the younger ones – but for the most part they were looking to stay roughly where they were and get a solid job.</p>
<p>“I’m sure that easyJet and TUI at Luton took a number of them. I think the challenge was around the Birmingham area, where there is not a huge amount of MRO activity, except maybe in line maintenance. Other than that, they would have had to look to East Midlands Airport, maybe Manchester.”</p>
<p>Also at that time, Qualitair literally went more than the extra mile to help its job seekers. “We flew a group across to the Netherlands to let them look around the KLM Engineering & Maintenance facilities, just to see what was out there. They even spoke with the KLM E&M management team,” Conway reports.</p>
<p>It’s never a good thing to suddenly have your immediate livelihood taken away from you. Having organisations like Qualitair, however, means that it does not necessarily have not be for long.</p>