Without engineers, our planes cannot fly. Our engineers are the beating heart of MAF, and without their expertise and dedication, we cease to have impact anywhere in the world. An engineer’s work is often unseen, but it lies at the very centre of a complex machine that enables us to fly help, hope and healing to those in isolation and need.
Today, however, we face a critical worldwide engineering shortfall. This shortfall has been a concern in the aviation industry for nearly a decade, with Boeing’s most recent engineering forecast predicting a worldwide demand for 769,000 new engineers by 2038. The Asia-Pacific region alone represents the largest need at 266,000, with North America at 193,000 and Europe 137,000. The global aviation engineering workforce will need to add almost 38,000 new engineers each year in order to meet this projected demand.
For MAF, this global situation is reflected in a current shortfall of aircraft maintenance engineers across our organisation. A number of our programmes require the touring support of engineering staff from other programmes or occasional external assistance. As MAFI seeks to expand the ministry to new countries, this shortfall will hinder new programme growth and creates significant organisational stress for MAF.
As a direct response to this urgent need, MAF is developing clear engineering pathways to encourage experienced engineers to serve and apprentices to train and serve with the organisation.
