A new report from the Aviation Technical Education Council (ATEC) finds that the aviation industry will be dealing with a shortage of mechanics for at least the next 10 years — and possibly beyond.
The 2025 Pipeline Report found that the U.S. aviation maintenance industry posted its second-largest year-over-year increase in new mechanic certificates in 2024, bolstered by more graduates from FAA-certificated training schools.
“While this trend is positive, the demand for new mechanics to satisfy industry growth and retirements is still projected to outpace supply,” according to the report.
The Pipeline Report shows that the FAA issued slightly more than 9,000 new mechanic certificates in 2024. The figure is just 4% below 2023’s record-setting annual total of 9,401.
Aviation maintenance technician schools (AMTS) saw total graduates decrease by 5% from 2023’s record-setting 10,000-plus graduates.
On the bright side, enrollments increased 9%, according to the report.
But the report also notes that demand from commercial air transport alone is expected to drive a 10% shortage in certificated mechanics in 2025.
“This gap will narrow to 7% by 2035, but will still represent a shortage of 10,000 certificated mechanics just to keep commercial passenger and cargo aircraft flying,” the report notes. “Add in demand from business and general aviation fleets, and pressure on the technical workforce pipeline increases even more.”
“We’re seeing some measurably positive trends at the grassroots level, building interest in pursuing aviation maintenance and the training needed to earn an FAA certificate,” said Jim Hall, ATEC President and WSUTech Vice President Aviation & Workforce Development. “Near-term challenges will include bolstering these trends while ensuring that we have enough specialized personnel, notably instructors and examiners, to support it.”
The report also found that:
- Two-thirds of new mechanics obtained certification through an A&P school, with the remainder earning certification through military experience (14%) or work experience (20%).
- FAA figures show one-third of certificated mechanics were engaged in general aviation or working for repair stations, air carriers, or AMTS in 2024. Certificated mechanics represent 61% of the air operator maintenance workforce, 22% of the repair station workforce, and 86% of the general aviation workforce.
- While AMTS enrollment rose 9% year-over-year, the A&P instructor workforce remained flat in 2024. This underscores the growing gap between teacher supply and demand and the challenges programs face in hiring and retaining certificated instructors.
- AMTS enrollment’s uptick is encouraging, but about one-third of available seats remain unfilled. The lack of awareness of aviation maintenance as a rewarding career path and instructor shortages are the leading contributors to below-capacity enrollment, according to ATEC officials.
The Pipeline Report is produced annually by ATEC and Oliver Wyman to spotlight U.S. airframe and powerplant (A&P) mechanic workforce trends. It is composed of insights from an annual survey, analysis by subject matter experts in both organizations, and data from the FAA and other publicly available sources.
For more information: ATEC-AMT.org
Going to school is good, however what is better is going to a repair station at an airport near you and get a job…..Those same few years will qualify you for the A&P plus you will even get paid!
Try it….you’ll start sweeping the hangar and washing parts, but it is a good way to start
I don’t know if this is regulatory in nature, but, locally, if I wanted to casually start taking AMT classes at the community college to work towards earning the A&P certificates, I could not.
You are either enrolled for 2 years, attending day classes only; or, you are getting the 3k hours of OJT and getting someone to sign you off.
If I could attend a night class 1 or 2 days per week 1 or 2 semesters per year and continue to accrue hours working under an IA on my airplane. I would do so.
Is that a possibility?
Jim. In a previous life I was Dir of Ed at a major part 147 (A&P) school. What you are asking for, part time “approved school” program, isn’t impossible but very impractical. An “approved” (part 147) curriculum compresses the 1,820 hrs with absolute accountability required in that program based on continuous, formal teaching/learning. It is a very demanding, building block program. The alternative OJT program requires logging and demonstrating 18 months of airframe and 18months of powerplant or 30 months of combined, logged experience (that’s 4,800 hrs) that covers ALL the aspects of an A&P certificate from turbine engine internal workings and wrench turning to mags, dope and fabric sheet metal fabrication and repair. The part 147 school combines fairly intense classroom training combined with targeted shop projects with mandated standards. Even with all that training a newly minted A&P goes out the door with that fatherly admonition, “now you have a license to learn”….” Don’t screw up”… and a bit of my preaching to new grads both in my CFI world and my mechanicing world I stress the idea “ never do ANYTHING… you are not proud of. I promise that both good and bad WILL follow… or more likely, precede you. “. All that said, my favorite experiment was a night school that we ran once. Every student was working full time but came every evening for four hours and all day two Saturdays a month. What was normally a full time fifteen month program took thirty months but we’d never had more dedicated or successful students. It was hard on scheduling and instructor schedules but produced one of the finest graduating classes in our (as of 2000) 68 year history.
Seconding this – I’d love to get my A&P but there is no way to do it with an established career. I work at a company where several of our long-term A&Ps started in fabrication and manufacturing and took night classes to earn their A&P. I simply can’t stop my existing career to go to school full-time, and covering all of the material via OJT is a challenge as well (due to the breadth of the material).