Are things starting to ‘take off’?

You don’t need to be an Aviation industry analyst to recognise that the Aerospace and Aviation industry was one of the first industries to feel the impact of COVID-19.  It was hit fast, many flights were grounded and as the ripples travelled far and wide across the industry and associated supply chain.

Airports were operating at 30% of their capacity, MRO organisations had planned maintenance contracts cancelled or deferred indefinitely, Cabin Interior manufacturers had new build and upgrade projects pulled pretty much overnight.

With this said, however, and not wishing to be the harbinger of doom, we/MANE are starting to see things picking up.  As a recruitment company, we are to some degree the barometer of the economy and in the last 2 weeks alone we have received new contract requirements from two major airline manufacturers.  These haven’t been in the single figures either.  So is this a sign that things are starting to ‘take off’ once again?

We have to be cognisant of this possibly being an initial knee-jerk reaction to the industry having underestimated the resources they required to complete existing projects.  But, the good news is that whilst I am sure there is some truth in that, we are aware that these customers have also got ‘new projects’ coming online also.  Fantastic news for the industry that had been brought to its knees almost overnight!

This doesn’t escape the fact that there is still a long way to go to get back to pre-COVID levels of flights, but recently airlines such as EasyJet, Ryanair and Qatar Airways have either reported numbers being ahead of where they had predicted or they are expanding into new routes.

The harsh reality is that with less money coming into the Aviation industry due to the decreased level of flights currently, orders for new planes, cabin modification programmes and MRO projects are still massively impacted.

Recruitment companies such as MANE are doing our bit to work with our customers (Candidates and Clients) to find a sustainable way of supporting the grass shoots of recovery.  We are willing to put some ‘skin in the game’ and we are working with our candidates to encourage them to do the same.  If this amazing industry is to continue to recover, it is not going to happen overnight, but it will happen if we are all on the same page and working together to find sensible and sustainable solutions.

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