Essendon Fields, Victoria – July 10th 2025 – The Hon Ben Carroll, Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, today toured the new headquarters of Aviation Australia, located at Essendon Fields, in a show of support for the company’s expansion and commitment to address the aviation industry’s critical skills shortage.
Aviation Australia is the largest provider of aviation training in the country and was recently supported by Essendon Fields Airport to relocate to a much larger training facility in the precinct, to accommodate recent growth in delivering programs nationally and internationally across aircraft line maintenance, cabin crew, piloting, and remote piloting.
Deputy Premier welcomed the opportunity to visit Aviation Australia and celebrated the company’s contribution to addressing training shortages in the aviation sector. Deputy Premier said:
“We are proud to back our students with diverse vocational and academic pathways so no matter what you want to be when you leave school, Victoria has a pathway for you to achieve it.”
“Our VCE Vocational Major is the biggest reform to senior secondary schooling in a generation. More and more students are choosing the Vocational Major to learn the hands-on skills needed for in-demand areas such as aviation, health, construction, engineering and agriculture – the careers that are driving the future of Victoria.”
Brendan Pihan, Essendon Fields CEO, said Aviation Australia was a very important tenant at the airport, as the benefits flowed through to the aviation industry nationally, and their expansion was in line with the Airport’s strategy to grow jobs onsite.
“Essendon Fields is committed to growing jobs in Melbourne’s Northwest, and developing facilities that can accommodate business expansion. We’re pleased to have delivered a new training facility for Aviation Australia, doubling their footprint on site to address an industry wide aircraft engineering shortage. We congratulate Minister Carroll and Aviation Australia for coming together today at this new facility to discuss opportunities to work more closely to promote engineering training opportunities and apprenticeships, and new remote piloting training programs,’’ he said.
“Essendon Fields offers a unique mix in Australia of airport operations, offering real world aviation experiences, a growing base of aircraft Repair, Maintenance and Overhaul facilities, and an unbeatable location just 13 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD with direct freeway, tram and bus access. This means we are within easy reach for students from around the region to come and attend training,’’ Mr Pihan said.
In Victoria, Aviation Australia delivers certificate II, IV, and diploma programs from its new and expanded Essendon Fields facilities, which now support increased student capacity and allow the organisation to meet growing demand and deliver long-term aviation workforce solutions.
It has been projected that the world-wide demand for aircraft maintenance engineers by 2043 will reach more than 700,000 and Aviation Australia’s training for remote piloting is expected to assist in servicing the increasing growth of drone flights, which are expected to reach around 60 million annually in Australia by the early 2040s.
Aviation Australia CEO Glenn Ryan thanked the Deputy Premier for the important visit, with students thrilled to be involved in meeting him, and welcomed any opportunity to work together with the Victorian Government on future training initiatives.
“Our recent expansion at Essendon Fields marks a strategic leap forward not just for Aviation Australia, but for the broader Victorian aviation sector,” he said.
“With the industry facing a critical national skills shortage and an estimated 60,000 years of experience set to retire over the next decade, the pressure to build a sustainable talent pipeline has never been greater. As flight volumes return to pre-COVID levels, Aviation Australia is well positioned to lead the response delivering future-focused training and supporting the workforce needs of today and tomorrow,” Mr Ryan said.
For more information please contact:
Kylie Hine
Aviation Australia
📧 [email protected]
🌐 aviationaustralia.aero
Nadia Salajic
Essendon Fields
📧 [email protected]
🌐 ef.com.au