CASA recorded 10,178 licensed aircraft maintenance engineers on 30 June 2025. A year earlier it had 9,891. That’s a net gain of fewer than 300 LAMEs across the entire country, while fleets grow, new aircraft types arrive and Defence programs expand.
I speak with maintenance managers every week, and the conversation has shifted. A year ago the question was “can you find us someone?” Now it’s “how do we make sure we’re not caught short next year?” That’s the right question. The operators who plan their 2027 workforce now will be the ones who keep aircraft flying when everyone else is competing for the same engineers.
Why the shortage isn’t going away
The pipeline is growing, just not fast enough. CASA issued 326 domestic licences by the end of May 2026, 11% more than at the same point last year. CASA’s own CEO, Pip Spence, has said that is “not enough to address the LAME shortage, particularly in rural and regional areas.”
Four pressures are working against operators at the same time:
- Global competition. Large overseas carriers are actively recruiting in Australia. Emirates ran information sessions in Sydney this January as part of a plan to hire 17,300 staff in 2026. Our licence is well regarded internationally, which makes our engineers easy to poach.
- Competing trades. As the Regional Aviation Association of Australia has pointed out, electrical and building trades offer comparable pay with a shorter path to qualification.
- A long training runway. It takes years to go from apprentice to fully licensed B1 or B2 engineer, and type ratings add more time on top.
- Fleet and Defence growth. New-generation narrowbodies, widebody growth and Defence platforms all need licensed engineers, often with specific type experience.
There is some good news. CASA is running a one-year trial of a recognition pathway for eligible UK and US licence holders. Modular licensing also lets engineers gain licence privileges for a defined scope, with exclusions they can remove as they progress. These help at the margins, but they won’t close the gap on their own.
What we’re seeing on the ground
This year our team has worked through thousands of applications across licensed, technical and support roles. That sounds like plenty of talent. It isn’t.
- Volume isn’t the problem. Suitability is. Only a small fraction of applicants have the right licence, type experience and work rights to put in front of an employer.
- Many applicants can’t work here yet. Around a quarter of applications for licensed engineering roles fall down on visa status alone. There’s strong global interest in Australian roles, but the pathways haven’t kept pace.
- Regional roles are hardest. Regional LAME roles attract roughly a third fewer applicants than metro and Defence roles, even when the package is strong.
- The slowest part of hiring is the decision. It often takes more than two months to go from application to start date, and most of that time passes after the shortlist reaches the employer. In a market this tight, that’s long enough to lose a good engineer.
- The best engineers aren’t answering job ads. The large majority of the engineers we place are people we already know, not people responding to an advert.
That last point matters most. In this market, the engineers you need are usually already employed and not actively looking. You reach them through relationships built over years, not a job ad posted this week.
“In this market, the engineers you need are usually already employed and not actively looking.”
Karissa Gilchrist · Head of Workforce Solutions
Five things to plan for in 2027
- Map your demand 12 months out, not 12 weeks. Line up your heavy checks, fleet introductions, contract changes and known retirements against your current headcount. Most gaps are visible a year ahead. They only become emergencies when nobody looks.
- Decide your core and flexible mix. Permanent staff give you continuity and capability. Contingent engineers give you surge capacity for checks, projects and peaks. Deciding the mix deliberately is cheaper than filling gaps at short notice.
- Treat retention as part of your workforce plan. Every engineer you keep is one you don’t have to find in this market. Rosters, career progression, type training and recognition matter as much as pay, especially with overseas carriers recruiting here.
- Build your own pipeline. Apprentices and engineers working towards removing licence exclusions are a long-term investment, but they are the only way to stop competing for the same small pool. Pair them with experienced LAMEs and plan their progression.
- Shorten your decision time. Agree interview panels, pay ranges and approvals before the role goes to market. If a strong shortlist lands on Monday, aim to interview that week and make an offer the next. The best engineers rarely wait a month.
How Sigma can help
Sigma is an end-to-end aviation maintenance group. We recruit, train, place and deploy the engineers who keep aircraft flying, and we maintain the aircraft they work on. That means we understand the workforce problem from both sides of the hangar door.
We were the first aviation provider in Australia to secure an On-Hire Labour Agreement for aircraft maintenance engineers, and we’ve supported nearly 100 engineers to relocate to Australia. Through Sigma Aerospace College, we’re also building the next generation of engineers.
If your 2027 maintenance plan depends on engineers you don’t have yet, now is the time to talk.
Start with your 2027 workforce plan
Talk to Karissa about recruitment, workforce planning and on-hire support. For apprenticeships and engineer training, contact Nick Egan at Sigma Aerospace College.
Workforce: Karissa Gilchrist
Training: Nick Egan
Sources
- CASA Annual Report 2024–25 — licensed aircraft maintenance engineer numbers.
- CASA: New pathway for UK and US aircraft maintenance engineers — trial scope and timing, 3 July 2026.
- Emirates scouts Aussie maintenance engineers as shortage continues — Australian Aviation, January 2026; CASA figures, overseas recruitment and RAAA comments.
- Australia looks to address engineer shortage with fast track for US and UK AME licence holders — RotorHub, August 2026; CASA’s 2026 licence figures and Pip Spence’s comments.
Karissa Gilchrist
Karissa leads Workforce Solutions at Sigma Aerospace. She works with aircraft maintenance operators on recruitment, on-hire support and workforce planning, connecting engineering requirements with the people and training needed to meet them.