How to Hire EASA Part-66 Licensed Engineers in a Shortage Market
Every MRO planner in Europe knows the math: hangar capacity is expanding, fleets are aging into heavier check cycles, and the pool of EASA Part-66 licensed engineers is not keeping up. If your maintenance schedule for the next twelve months depends on B1/B2 engineers you have not hired yet, this article is for you.
Why the shortage is structural, not cyclical
Training a licensed engineer takes years: basic training, type training, and the supervised experience requirements of Part-66 do not compress. Meanwhile, a significant share of the current licensed population is within a decade of retirement, and airlines, MROs, and CAMO organisations are all fishing in the same pond. Waiting for the market to loosen is not a strategy.
What doesn't work anymore
Posting a vacancy and waiting used to produce candidates within weeks. Today, licensed engineers with current type ratings rarely apply cold — they are approached, often while still in a contract. Salary alone also no longer differentiates: rates have converged across Europe, and engineers increasingly weigh rotation patterns, travel burden, and the stability of the work package.
Three approaches that fill positions now
First, widen the certification lens. If your requirement says "B1 with current type rating on your exact fleet," you have excluded engineers who could be productive within weeks via difference training. Scope which adjacent type ratings your quality department can bridge, and say so in the requirement.
Second, use contract and secondment capacity deliberately, not as a last resort. A seconded licensed engineer bridging a nine-month capacity peak is often more cost-effective than a permanent requisition left unfilled for two quarters — the aircraft on the ground does not care about the employment model. The compliance side (A1 declarations, work permits, social security coordination across EU and non-EU crew) is where specialist partners earn their fee.
Third, plan requisitions a quarter ahead of the maintenance schedule. Time-to-fill for licensed roles keeps lengthening; the organisations that hire well treat engineer supply like they treat parts logistics — with lead times, not last-minute purchasing.
Cross-border deployment: the underused lever
The European market is not one market. Licensed engineers in some regions face fewer local opportunities than the demand hotspots in Western Europe and the Middle East. Deploying them compliantly — right-to-work, EASA license validation, payroll and social security done correctly — is exactly the bottleneck a specialised workforce partner removes. Done properly, cross-border secondment turns a local shortage into a continental sourcing question.
What good looks like
An operator we work with plans hangar load two quarters out, flags the licensed-role gap per check, and fills the baseline with permanent staff while covering peaks with seconded engineers on defined packages. Their aircraft do not wait for recruitment.
If your 2026 maintenance plan has gaps where licensed engineers should be, talk to us. Confair provides certified aviation professionals — B1/B2 engineers, CAMO staff, and ground operations — across Europe and the Middle East, with the regulatory and payroll compliance handled end to end.