Comply365 argues the aircraft technician shortage is really a records problem, not a hiring problem

A Comply365 piece argues that the widely-cited shortage of aircraft maintenance technicians — Boeing's 2025 outlook projects a need for 710,000 more globally over 20 years — is less a pure headcount problem than a knowledge-management one. Citing IATA's Stuart Fox, the piece points to slow, inconsistent recognition of technician qualifications across regulatory jurisdictions as a major bottleneck, meaning newly hired or relocated technicians often can't be deployed as quickly as headcount figures imply. The argument is that structured, queryable competency records that travel with a technician across borders would shrink the gap between hiring and actually being able to work.