Attto to Support Safe Air During Turbulent Times

Attto Offers Support to Safe Air During Turbulent Times

A plan to help support SAFE Air trainees affected by recent redundancy announcements is being put into place by ATTTO, (the Aviation, Tourism, Travel and Museums industry training organisation). SAFE Air staff are currently engaged in over 60 training programmes.

The aim of the plan is to help existing trainees, where ever possible, to complete their current training to ensure they have transferable skills or are able to be redeployed. Almost a third of the staff at SAFE Air is to be made redundant as a result of an overdue contract.

“ATTTO frontline staff, management and Board members are working hard behind the scenes to see what can be done to retain all trainees within the aviation industry. We can also support recognition of current competence that might be necessary for identified skilled workers to also assist in retention and re-deployment,” advises Elizabeth Valentine, CEO at ATTTO.

“It’s as important to retain experienced people as it is new trainees. In such a high-tech industry experienced staff, especially engineers can not only mentor new trainees, they have a wealth of knowledge across aircraft types. This adds significant potential value for off shore businesses considering aircraft maintenance contracts with New Zealand companies. We cannot let highly skilled, trained people leave the sector without doing everything possible to find solutions,” adds ATTTO Chairman Rick Bettle.

“Having worked with SAFE Air for nine years I feel a personal responsibility to assist wherever we can. And for ATTTO this is supporting workers through gaining skills that can be used in the future when the industry picks up again,” says Dave Evans, Senior Aviation Training Advisor at ATTTO.

Like many industries, the aviation industry is cyclical in nature with peaks and troughs of employment effected by known factors such as the economy and international trends in the supply and demand of skilled workers across all aspects of aviation. Because New Zealand’s aviation sector is strongly affected by such global aviation trends, the need to retain and develop a skilled workforce in the near future is essential to helping New Zealand aviation employers manage the increasing impacts of massive technological changes and significant growth in the Chinese and Indian aviation sectors.

“In addition aviation engineering in New Zealand has a rapidly aging workforce. So it is important to keep trainees on a career pathway now to enable employers to succession plan in behind retiring workers,” says Valentine.

“It’s essential that the education and aviation sectors pull together to solve problems and plan for this eventuality” adds Rick Bettle.

ATTTO aims to support those who are close to completing their aviation engineering training (ranging from Aircraft Servicing to a range of Diplomas), so that these skills remain in the New Zealand aviation workforce. There will be a month of consultation before the first redundancies are confirmed and this will provide some time for Dave Evans to work with current trainees affected and to put together individual training plans. “This is the bare minimum we can do to support our colleagues,” says Dave.

Trainees have a twelve week window to possibly complete their current training following a redundancy, under the Tertiary Education Commission guidelines. ATTTO is actively exploring every opportunity, during this time, to support the sector in managing through this difficult time.

ENDS

© Scoop Media