Industry overview
What is shaping aerospace
Aerospace brings together airlines, airports, MRO providers and component suppliers, with safety, reliability and certification at the centre of every decision.
- Passenger experience is a key differentiator for airlines and airports
- MRO and component buying depends on certification and turnaround
- Skilled talent is in short supply
Client background
A skills development council, working in Pan-India. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A skills development council
- Sector
- Aerospace
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Quantitative research, Qualitative research, Government research
Client challenge
Employers reported shortages of licensed aircraft maintenance engineers, while many trainees struggled to find jobs. The council wanted to understand the mismatch.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: understanding skills shortages in aircraft maintenance.
- Understand the views, needs and behaviour of employers.
- Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 8 weeks.
Target audience
The work focused on 90 employers.
- employers90
Audiences we typically reach in aerospace
PassengersAirline and airport managersMRO providersComponent suppliersEngineers and technicians
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Pan-India. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.
- 1Brief
- 2Employer survey
- 3Technician interviews
- 4Insight
We surveyed employers about hiring needs and skill gaps, and interviewed recent graduates and working technicians about training quality, licensing and job search.
Quantitative researchQualitative researchGovernment research
Sampling strategy
- employers
- 90
- Business respondents were screened on role, company size and involvement in the decision before being invited.
- Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.
Data collection
- technician interviews
- 50
- Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.
Data quality & validation
- Recordings and transcripts for every session
- Re-screening of qualitative recruits
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
- Journey and decision mapping
Key findings
- Graduates lacked hands-on experience on current aircraft types, which employers required.
Hearing both sides explained why shortages and unemployment existed at the same time.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: hearing both sides explained why shortages and unemployment existed at the same time.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: graduates lacked hands-on experience on current aircraft types, which employers required.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The council promoted industry-linked practical training and apprenticeship partnerships.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interview summaries and key verbatims
- Evaluation findings with programme recommendations
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: how do airlines choose MRO partners?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.