It seems that the aviation industry is finally on the road to recovery. After two and a half long and problematic years, we’re seeing something akin to normality in major airports across the globe. The industry is rightly taking stock and seeing, perhaps more than ever, the importance of key personnel. Huge numbers of staff left the industry during the pandemic and took their experience, training and unique skill set with them and recruiting their replacements has not been easy. But, staff numbers are at last stabilising and as the huge recruitment drive beds in, airports are working with growing numbers of external training companies to ensure all needs are met. Is it possible for an airport to combine all in-house, in-person, virtual and external training sessions in one place and ensure consistently high standards? We think so.
Why do airports work with external training companies?
Global airports employ huge numbers of staff and see hundreds of thousands of passengers every day. Companies operating at London Heathrow Airport, for example, employ 76,000 staff with still more employed in the nearby area. In total, according to their official website, LHR support the employment of 114,000 jobs. Consider that each of these staff members will require onboarding, some of them will need permits and certification, others will need licences, others still specific training for working in the dark, or at height, or with members of the public… the list goes on. In short, the sheer volume of people involved in an airport’s day-to-day activities means training all staff in house is a gargantuan task and so outsourcing some of this training to specialist companies can save money and time.
How important is face-to-face training in aviation?
Rewind just a few years and most airport training was carried out in a formal classroom setting, but with covid came a push for more classes to go virtual. Most training courses translate well to a virtual learning environment but there’s many that still benefit from a face to face method. The volume of staff requiring training benefits from new technologies and methods but a blended approach of e-learning, practical, simulation and in person training contributes to a well rounded course. Including different types of learning and trusting external companies to deliver means the staff training mountain is no longer insurmountable.
How do airports collate the airport training data from various companies?
Staff training is a huge undertaking and while the use of local and external companies can make life simpler in many ways for senior airport personnel, it can also make the process of collating the information lengthy. With so many different types of learning being carried out, including e-learning, webinars, practical, competency based assessments, online testing, time/experience based, and simulations there’s a lot to keep track of. Administrative staff are often required to manually input training data so not only is this process time consuming but can be vulnerable to human error. The good news is AIRDAT’s Passport system can help.
How can AIRDAT’s Passport help me to collate all airport training?
AIRDAT’s Passport system was created to provide everything you need for training, auditing and compliance for the entire airport community. The easy-to-use system can be accessed online so no additional software is required to plan, manage, deliver and record training. With Passport, an airport can authorise and list different training companies based on their training qualifications as well as locking them out if qualifications aren’t renewed. Trainers can only submit training records for courses they provide making it easy for airports to manage and maintain records. With our latest initiative, local companies can also be added into existing training systems.
What can Passport do to help support local training?
Whether delivered in-house or via third parties, Passport enables airports to manage bookings, process payments and issue permits. It provides a complete overview of the entire airport community’s training status and can actively assist companies – both external and in-house – to arrange training.
Airports can add courses, limit private options, and collect and store all necessary documentation to ensure training is compliant and audit ready. Passport will take care of room availability and offer account integration if you need to charge.
If the eLearning you offer isn’t easily accessible to all relevant employees anytime, anywhere then surely you’re missing a trick. With Passport, you can offer engaging online tests and record competency assessments (all evidenced and audited, of course) on tablets and smartphones so staff can learn at their own pace and in the most suitable setting for them.
Our latest initiative is to contact local training companies (either at the recommendation from the airport or upon our suggestion with the airport’s approval) and add them to the Passport dashboard. The local training companies can offer training to the entire airport community and the airport themselves benefit from having all training information in one place.
If you’re looking to incorporate training data – including in-house, eLearning and third party training – for your entire airport community, get in touch with a member of our team to see how AIRDAT’s Passport system could help.
