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At present, there is a muchmore cautious approach in the whole way that airlines in the region are running their operations. - Neil Engerran

As the economic uncertainty continues, is the Middle East the last place left to find a job in aviation?

The job section of the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) website displays a bleak message announcing that its ‘recruitment is temporarily frozen due to the current industry crisis'. And the trade association's declaration does not stand alone in the aviation world. According to IATA, airlines around the world have been forced to reduce jobs and routes in order to cope with the economic situation.

The main cause behind such drastic redundancy measures has been the ensuing drop in the number of passengers for the first time since 1991. Asian and North American carriers have been hit by the largest passenger decline, followed very closely by their European counterparts. As the one beacon of light in a sea of bad news, the Middle East aviation industry remains the only region to still show positive traffic growth.

While other industries in the Middle East, such as construction and banking, are also making redundancies in order to ride the economic tide, none of the region's major airlines have announced that they will be making significant job losses so far. Does this make the Middle East the place to be for out of luck aviation professionals to find a job?

UK-based recruiter Wynnwith Airline Services managing director Sara Evans, thinks so. "Our experience to date shows that the Middle East region has been the least affected with regard to the economic slow down," she says. Evans confidently predicts a regional growth in aviation recruitment in the medium and long term, putting recruitment agencies like hers in a strong position.

"This is the perfect environment for airlines to take on experienced, skilled contract personnel via agencies like ours," she suggests. "Not only does it help them to upsize or downsize quickly and efficiently to meet market demands and ensure costs are controlled, but they can concentrate on core business whilst recruitment specialists source the relevant skilled and experienced personnel to meet their requirements."

Indeed, if economic uncertainty teaches a business anything, it is the need to be as flexible as possible - especially where the workforce is concerned. "The industry needs to look to employ personnel on short term contracts in these uncertain times. This gives the airline total freedom to cover for certain periods and then cut their workforce if need be when there are slow times," agrees UK-based Aircraft Commerce Recruitment managing director Neil Engerran.

In order to support airlines at this critical time, Engerran maintains that recruiters also need to offer some flexibility, together with the knowledge of exactly what is happening in the industry at any given time to advise accurately on all situations and needs. "My ethos has always been to be totally honest and open with clients, offering total empathy and expertise to their particular situation," he says. "It is important to help airlines and we offer no fee advice."

Certainly for overseas agencies, the recruitment potential in the Middle East's aviation industry still appears buoyant. However, it would be wrong to suggest that the sector has been left untouched by the recession. Industry experts have noted that whilst the region's aviation industry does indeed continue to show an increase in passenger traffic, this is way below the double-digit growth it had been enjoying in previous years.

Furthermore, as Engerran points out, although there have been some ‘success stories' such as the low-cost market which has seen both orders and recruitment needs going through the roof, the industry is rightfully remaining watchful. "There is a much more cautious approach in the whole way that airlines in the region are running their operations," he says.

AviationJobSearch.com, a recruitment portal for aviation professionals has also been experiencing a change in the way in which airlines advertise their positions. "The biggest change we have noticed is that clients are not willing to commit to long term advertising.

They are happier looking at monthly or quarterly packages," comments managing director of the portal Ian Partington. With the pool of potential applicants ever-widening as a result of the economic downturn, the portal has begun filtering out the hundreds of applications received. Additionally, Partington has found a shift in the types of jobs being advertised, which he believes accurately reflects the economic mood of the region.

"We are finding that there is still a fairly healthy demand for aviation professionals in the Middle East, certainly compared to Europe," he says. "But we have seen an increase in requirements for engineers as more airlines increase their maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activity as opposed to invest in new planes."

Tasc Aviation head of airline strategy Vladimir Ponjevic, also believes that the recession has affected certain jobs within the aviation industry more than others. "Airlines have slowed down their expansion efforts to more realistic levels, resulting in possibly prolonged entries into new markets and new services, and even delays in aircraft deliveries," he highlights.

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