The industry’s biggest turbulence isn’t in the skies, it’s in the workforce.
Across the globe, airports are facing the same challenge: a shrinking talent pool, growing turnover, and increasing competition for skilled staff.
According to ACI World, over 60% of airports report difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified employees, especially in operational and technical roles.
While many airports respond by ramping up recruitment campaigns, the real solution might not start with hiring more but with hiring better and developing your current staff. And for that, you need clarity.
In many airports, job descriptions haven’t kept pace with how roles have evolved. In fact, according to Korn Ferry Global Talent Trends, in 2024 72% of aviation HR leaders said their current job descriptions were out of date or didn’t reflect real operational skills.
Ground staff are doing more customer service, technicians are using new digital tools, supervisors are managing larger teams with new regulatory responsibilities, yet, their job descriptions still reflect what the role looked like five years ago.
As a result:
Employees don’t fully understand what’s expected of them.
Managers struggle to assess performance fairly.
Training investments aren’t aligned to actual skill needs.
Staff lose motivation and start looking elsewhere.
When people can’t see what success looks like in their role, or where they can grow next, retention inevitably suffers.
The first step to solving the aviation skills shortage is precisely defining the roles and skills your airport actually needs.
That’s where job benchmarking and competency mapping come in.
By analyzing tasks, required competencies, and training pathways across the industry, airports can identify:
Which skills are critical for current operations
Which roles are evolving or overlapping
Where gaps exist between training and real-world performance
Tools like Klayo Intelligence make this process fast and evidence-based, giving HR and operations leaders clear visibility of each role and its alignment to industry standards.
Retention isn’t just about keeping people in the same seat; it’s about showing them where they can go next.
When employees have access to clear career pathways, supported by transparent job descriptions and structured skill development plans, they’re far more likely to stay engaged. Clarity builds confidence, and confidence builds loyalty.
Klayo’s Job Builder and Proficiency Checks work together to make that clarity real:
Job Builder defines the tasks, skills, and training linked to each role.
Proficiency Checks verify competence through real-world performance data.
Together, they create visibility into where each person stands and what’s next on their career path.
In a competitive labour market, airports can’t always win on salary but they can win on purpose, transparency, and growth.
By making roles clearer, aligning training with operational reality, and showing each employee how their skills contribute to safety and efficiency, airports can turn the skills shortage into a development opportunity, not a crisis.
Because when people understand their role, see their impact, and have a clear path forward, they don’t just stay.
They thrive.