[Peetwo]

McDonaught aviation safety shamelist - Part IV.

Article today in the Oz:

State push to land a larger slice of aircraft maintenance boom


By Ironside 



The Queensland government is seeking to bring thousands of ­aviation jobs to the state as part of a bold pitch to capitalise on the booming demand for aircraft maintenance.

In the past two decades, airlines have increasingly sent their aircraft overseas to New Zealand, Singapore and The Philippines for maintenance, repair and overhaul because of the lower cost, scale and quality of work.

Qantas is now the only major airline that carries out heavy maintenance on part of its fleet in Australia. That work is done at its Brisbane hangar.

However, with the world’s commercial airline fleet set to increase from 25,368 aircraft to more than 35,000 in the next 10 years, demand for maintenance will grow, presenting opportunities for skilled workers and services.

Queensland Minister for State Development Cameron Dick will meet aviation heavyweights, including Qantas and Hawker ­Pacific, tomorrow to discuss opportunities for the state to raise its share of the growing aircraft maintenance market.

Data from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics shows that in Australia, there were 2107 aircraft registered as commercial air transport last year. Of those, just 102 had heavy maintenance in Australia — including 75 Qantas 737s and 28 A330s.

Boeing forecasts an additional 769,000 technicians will be needed in the aviation industry by 2038, including 266,000 in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr Dick said the focus of the roundtable would be to look at how to bring a good portion of those jobs to the state.

He said as well as examining the obstacles to major airlines, the roundtable would show how the government was keen to support jobs through project facilitation and industry attraction.

“We’ve seen reports that major Australian airlines have sent aircraft overseas for servicing and we want to bring those jobs to Queensland,” Mr Dick said.

“Queensland is in the pilot’s seat to build on the state’s established (maintenance) industry and create more high-value, knowledge-based jobs of the future.”

The government’s jobs and ­regional growth had already led to an increase in the size of Hawker Pacific’s far north Queensland hangar, in readiness for heavy maintenance work from across the Asia Pacific region.

Mr Dick said Boeing, Airbus and Northrop Grumman also maintained a range of aircraft with “future capacity for heavy maintenance for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner”.

“Deloitte Access Economics reports with continued support, the aerospace sector could support 6200 jobs over 10 years,” Mr Dick said.

As well as Qantas and Hawker Pacific, other organisations to confirm their attendance at the maintenance roundtable include Cobham, Wellcamp Toowoomba Airport, TAE Aerospace, Asia ­Pacific Aerospace, Aviation Australia and Pacific Turbine.

Boeing, Virgin Australia and Brisbane Airport were also invited to attend.

Mr Dick said the meeting showed Queensland’s commitment to expanding the existing maintenance business.

“Queensland will be the only Australian state represented at the (maintenance) Asia Pacific conference in Singapore next month,” he said. “We will also host the ­inaugural Australasia event in March 2020, and again in 2022 and 2024.”

  
Hmm...excellent initiative by the QLD Labor Govt but hang on a second...Q1) where are they going to get the ginger beers?? &.. Q2) why isn't our useless good for nothing miniscule getting behind this wonderful initiative??   

MTF...P2