24 May Iberia Celebrates AMT Day
- The figure of the Aeronautical Maintenance Technician is fundamental in the industry, as they are in charge of guaranteeing the highest standards of quality and safety in aircraft.
- Today, Iberia has more than 2,500 TMAs on its staff, after recently incorporating 450 new profiles to the team.
- Iberia held an event at the Iberia Space, located in the heart of Gran Vía, to pay tribute to the company’s TMAs.
Iberia has once again joined in the celebration of Aeronautical Maintenance Technician (AMT) Day, a fundamental figure in the operation of the aviation industry on an international level.
This day, which is celebrated in commemoration of the birth of Charles Edward Taylor on 24 May 1868, the person who built the engine that was used in 1903 to propel the Wright Brothers’ plane and which initiated the modern aviation era, serves to recognise the important work carried out every day by AMTs all over the world, who are responsible for keeping aircraft in the best quality and maintenance conditions to guarantee the integrity of all equipment and safety on board flights.
Key Figures in Iberia’s history
As with the crew on board aircraft, Aeronautical Maintenance Technicians (AMTs) have been, and of course will continue to be, a central part of Iberia’s almost 100 years of history in the industry.
The figures confirm this relevance within the company: today, Iberia has more than 2,500 TMAs on its staff in production areas such as bodywork maintenance, mechanics, structures, composite materials, painting, machining, verification, electronics, electromechanics, or welding, among many others.
In addition, TMA’s workforce has registered one of the most accelerated evolutions in recent months, with the incorporation of nearly 450 professionals to the team. But the relevance of TMAs will be even more relevant for the future, given that the world fleet is expected to increase by 28% in the next 10 years, which will lead to an increase in demand of around 33,000 new professionals per year.
This trend also speaks to Iberia’s commitment to vocational training programmes, with more than 20% of new recruits coming from this type of education.
However, there is a challenging context, especially in terms of workforce renewal and the introduction of women in this industry. Overall, in Spain, we have 33.67 % of students enrolled in VET and, of these, 4.8 % choose the vehicle maintenance branch, with only 0.4 % being women.
A journey through time
To celebrate this anniversary, Iberia held an event at the Espacio Iberia, the popup store that the airline has opened on Madrid’s Gran Vía, to honour the more than 2,500 TMAs who are part of the company. And not only; also those who have been part of Iberia’s history, such as Engraciano, a former Iberia TMA who is 109 years old. His testimony is a journey through the history of the airline and a recognition of the work of the Maintenance Technician.
