Aviation Australia (AA) and SriLankan Aviation College (SLAC,) Sri Lanka’s foremost Aviation training school and training arm of SriLankan Airlines signed a cooperative partnership last week for the joint delivery of the Diploma of Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (Mechanical) by Aviation Australia. This transnational aircraft maintenance engineering program provides a licensing pathway for aspiring students in the region to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part 66 aircraft maintenance licence. The EASA Part 66 licenses are issued by the national aviation authorities (NAA) in Europe and is one of the most widely recognised aircraft maintenance licenses in the world.
The training will cover the EASA Part 147 approved basic training course (Category B1.1), with students completing the first 6 months of their study in Colombo, Sri Lanka before transferring to Brisbane, Australia to enrol for the Diploma of Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (Mechanical) by Aviation Australia and complete the remaining 12 months of their course, including practical training in Aviation Australia’s EASA approved Part 147 training facility and “live” aircraft maintenance training in Aviation Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) approved CAR 30 aircraft maintenance facility.
Successful students will graduate with a Diploma of Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (Mechanical) and an EASA Part 147 Certificate of Recognition. The partnership will also see the appointment of a transnational specialist training consultant based in the Aviation Australia training centre.
In addition, students from the program will also have the opportunity to further their studies to complete an accelerated Bachelor of Engineering Technology, after the completion of the Diploma.
The first intake of students in and around Sri Lanka for the joint program is scheduled to take place in September of this year. The latest Boeing aircraft technician outlook predicts that there is a global requirement for an additional 679,000 maintenance technicians, over the next 20 years. This equates to almost 34,000 per year. The world will be looking for more Aircraft Engineers and SLAC is well positioned to assist in training of Sri Lankans to fill some of these key roles.
