Australia’s largest independent regional airline, Regional Express (Rex) has applauded the Federal Government’s announcement that occupations in the aircraft maintenance engineer category have been added to the Migration Occupants Demand List.
Rex Managing Director Geoff Breust said that like most airlines, Rex can find it difficult to locate experienced and qualified aircraft engineers.
“Rex has an extensive recruitment, training and apprenticeship program, but we would be happy to access more engineers from overseas as well as in Australia.
“As a regional airline with an engineering base in a regional centre, Rex needs to employ skilled labour outside of the major centres. Having access to skilled migrants who can live and work in places like Wagga Wagga as well as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, will be a major boost to our airline and the industry generally.
“We applaud the actions by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services, the Hon Mark Vaile MP, for being proactive and taking bold initiatives to ensure the long term sustainability of regional aviation. His action in seeking the assistance of his colleagues the Minister for Employment and Work Place Relations and the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship to achieve this initiative will be of great benefit,” Mr Breust said.
The expansion of the airline industry over coming years will place some strain on Australia’s pool of highly skilled aircraft engineers and pilots. The Federal Government’s approach of putting in place initiatives to get ahead of possible future shortages in these specialised fields will assist the industry greatly and the community broadly.
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