The career path no one showed you: How aviation professionals actually move up

Few aviation professionals can claim that their career advanced exactly how they planned it. More often, it involves the combination of an attentive manager, training that happened to be available at the right time or taking a chance with a lateral move that only made sense looking back.

That last of visibility and planning has strong consequences across the industry as research from McKinsey found that 41% of workers who quit their jobs named a lack of career development and advancement as the single biggest reason for their departure.

41% of workers who quit their jobs named a lack of career development and advancement as the single biggest reason, ahead of pay.

Why the ladder feels invisible

Unlike some more traditional roles where progression paths are carefully mapped out, aviation careers rarely follow a published route from one role to the next. Progression tends to happen through stacked certifications, informal mentorship, and seemingly random opportunities, rather than through a mapped set of skills connecting one job to the next.

Industry research from Airports Council International's ACI World Insights has pointed to frustration with career progression as one of the clearer drivers behind aviation's ongoing workforce turnover, noting that what people actually want is a defined path, with real visibility into what advancement would require and when it might be realistic.

What people actually want is a defined path, with real visibility into what advancement would require and when it might be realistic.

For the ground handling industry, this lack of visibility over skills that are often transferable is even more problematic with a turnover as high as 50% according to an International Air Transport Association (IATA) 2022 study.

From compliance mapping to career pathing

Airports do not lack structure. In fact, they run on some of the most detailed competency frameworks of any industry, covering safety, compliance, and operational standards down to the task level.

What is often missing is the translation of that operational structure into a career progression framework available to individuals that clearly highlights where the gaps sit between their current skill set and the competences they need to progress. Without that visibility, moving up depends heavily on guessing and creating your own luck, which is neither scalable not sustainable for both individuals and organizations.

This is not an aviation-specific issue. LinkedIn's workforce data shows employees stay around 41% longer at organizations with strong internal mobility and are far more likely to stay past the two-year mark if they've made an internal move.

41% longer tenure, and close to double the retention of top performers: that's the gap LinkedIn and Deloitte both link to visible skills and internal mobility.

Similarly, Deloitte has found that organizations built around visible skills, rather than static job titles, are close to twice as likely to retain their strongest performers.

The right skills for the right career

Airports don’t need to reinvent the way they operate, not do they need to invest massive amounts into consultant reports or to rebuilt their HR systems. They need to make the skills people already have and the paths already open to them something they can actually see and, more importantly, act on.

This is the part a Skills Passport is built to solve. Buy creating a single, live, portable record of an individual’s skills and competencies, Klayo allows airport and aviation professionals to see not only how they skill measure up against the requirements of their current role, but what skills they need to advance their career.

Technology will never replace personal judgement or the value of a good mentor, but it transforms guesswork into planning.

In an industry where research consistently links visible growth opportunities to whether people stay, that shift matters well beyond any one individual's career.