Aviation has to be one of the most exciting words in the English dictionary. The ‘civil aviation’ or airline industry is one of the biggest, most complicated and most regulated industries in the world. According to the IATA, the industry is forecasted to generate $709 billion in revenue for the year 2016. In this post we look at how one of their biggest challenges, personnel training, can be solved using online training thanks to recent developments in cloud computing, blended learning and consumer technology.
“We are able to save a lot of money with online training by eliminating the need for employees to travel extensively for classroom training.”
Download IATA Factsheet (fact-sheet-industry-facts.pdf 222KB)
Training Challenges for the Aviation Industry
1. Location, Location, Location
Most civil aviation companies have employees and crew members located around the world and flight crews travel constantly. To ensure consistent training across its fleet, companies need training program that works for everyone, no matter where they are located. It is challenging and expensive to get staff to attend classroom training at the head office.
2. Administrative Nightmares
Employees also hold different qualifications and licenses, so it is important for the training department to be able to track which crew members were due for renewals and when. This is a daunting task for any airline, given that typical airlines have more than 3,000 employees.
3. Expensive Development
Providing training is not cheap. Developing high quality training programs requires a significant investment of both time and money. This investment won’t realize any benefits for airlines in the short-term.
4. Workforce Problems
To make matters worse, the aging workforce and lack of engineering students in developing countries like the US and UK is expected to cause a significant skills shortage for the aviation industry during the next decade. If aviation companies can’t hire or develop the number of engineers they need, their ability to grow and compete in the international market will be stifled.
The Solution
Using e-learning and online training can significantly lower costs for airlines. For most aviation industry courses, it will be more cost-effective to organize large parts of the training through online modules. These online training modules are easier to deliver to students all around the globe without the need for trainers or training facilities. They can also be updated much faster and allow students to study at their own pace at any time and from anywhere they want.
Airlines should implement easy to use, SCORM-certified training programs that work with desktop web browsers and mobile devices. All airline staff should complete at least one security course before they receive their employee badges; companies can use Courseplay to deploy this course to each staff member.
Courseplay mobile capabilities are particularly useful for airlines because employees frequently complete courses while traveling and while on layovers in any global location. Delivering training in a cost-effective way is, of course, the biggest benefit for airlines. Our platform has proven to be easy to use. For crew-members it is easily accessible and available on all browsers, any device, and very soon it will be available directly through any airline’s single sign-on system.
Airlines can use Courseplay to track training expiry dates and renewal requirements effortlessly as well. Courseplay generates new invitations and automatically assigns courses to relevant employees when training is due. This helps ensure that airline meets its security, training and compliance goals with a minimal need for micromanagement and tedious administration.
Developing a training program that meets all training requirements and is cost-effective is not easy, especially for airlines. We work with experienced aviation industry training providers that can help in delivering high quality and industry-compliant training programs.
Get in touch with us to learn more about what we can do for airlines.