Boeing's 2026 Pilot and Technician Outlook projects that North America alone will need 125,000 new aircraft maintenance technicians over the next two decades to keep the region's commercial fleet flying. The forecast estimates that the global aviation industry will need to fill more than 2.4 million personnel positions by 2045, including 728,000 maintenance technicians worldwide, up from 710,000 in the prior year's forecast.
North America's share of that technician demand represents roughly 17 percent of the global total, alongside a need for 122,000 new pilots and 191,000 new cabin crew members in the region over the same period. Boeing attributes about two-thirds of the projected hiring to replacing technicians, pilots and crew members who retire or leave the industry, while the remaining third supports growth in the size of the commercial fleet.
The maintenance technician shortfall is tied to fleet aging and rising aircraft utilization, both of which increase the volume of scheduled and unscheduled repair work moving through US shops. Aircraft maintenance technicians in the United States typically enter the field through FAA-approved Airframe and Powerplant training programs or through military and on-the-job pathways, and industry groups have flagged the technician pipeline as tighter than the more widely discussed pilot shortage.
Boeing updates the Pilot and Technician Outlook annually, and the 2026 edition reflects revised fleet growth and retirement assumptions compared with the 2025 report.
Source: Boeing - https://www.boeing.com/commercial/market/pilot-technician-outlook