2023-09-02 08:00:12
This text is part of the special Aeronautics booklet
The industry wants to become an area of innovation to remain internationally competitive and meet challenges.
“The health crisis, for us, has been extremely difficult,” says Mélanie Lussier, CEO of Aéro Montréal, a strategic consultation forum created in 2006. The organization brings together leaders from the Quebec aerospace sector, from the industry, educational institutions, research centres, as well as associations and unions. Its mission is to optimize the competitiveness and growth of this sector.
The recovery in tourism and business travel is also reflected in aerospace. The sector recorded an increase of 18% in 2022 compared to the previous year, with 15 billion in revenue, according to the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy. There were also around 60,430 people working in the field in 2022. “The industry is extremely resilient. We should be on the right track to find the pre-pandemic figures, ”said Mme Lussier.
Unlike other economic sectors, aerospace has not experienced a significant drop in the number of jobs. “Yes, there have been slowdowns, layoffs, but we are almost back to the level of 2019,” adds the CEO.
“We have worked a lot to keep the factories open,” says Mme Lussier. She nevertheless concedes that the pandemic “has hurt”, with certain territories closed for a while, which had raised fears among customers, who were revising the number of their orders downwards.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the year 2023 should end with a total of 4.35 billion passengers. Proof that the sector has returned to a pre-pandemic level, believes Mélanie Lussier. “There, the challenge is to restart a machine extremely quickly,” she adds.
An evolution of challenges
While the pandemic caused logistical challenges, the industry is currently facing a labor shortage. “Before, the problem was to return the goods to the factories. Now it’s the availability of this merchandise,” and this reality is caused by the lack of manpower, says Ms.me Lussier.
This situation has repercussions even in the supply chains. “We have orders for planes to fill the books for the next ten years. Except that, to be able to produce these parts in sufficient quantity, it requires people who are still missing a little,” says the CEO of Aéro Montréal.
In 2022, Aéro Montréal, with some fifty companies in the sector, led a campaign to debunk the myths regarding the industry. “There is a mistaken belief that, for example, you have to be an engineer at all costs to work in aerospace, that it’s difficult to get into it, that you absolutely have to be good at mathematics and technology,” she says. However, the aerospace industry welcomes many different trades, such as welders or painters. ” That [la campagne] made it possible to respond to this labor attraction challenge,” explains Mr.me Lussier.
In the post-pandemic era, the aerospace industry also faces productivity challenges. “We have to produce faster and faster. We must therefore make sure to automate our factories,” says Ms.me Lussier.
Towards a future innovation zone?
In order to maintain a position of predilection on the international scale, the Quebec aerospace industry must continue to transform. “In what we call tomorrow’s air mobility, we have to work on these innovations. In Quebec, we really have everything you need,” says Mélanie Lussier.
The CEO of Aéro Montréal would also like the Government of Québec to designate the greater metropolitan area as an innovation zone for the aerospace industry. “It will help us to keep this position. We are convinced that this is one of the things that will allow us to stay at the forefront,” she says. Such a zone would notably cover the airports of Montréal-Trudeau, Mirabel and Saint-Hubert.
In addition to the multinationals present in the region, such as Bombardier, Airbus, CAE, Bell Helicopter and Pratt & Whitney, Mme Lussier points out that the industry also includes hundreds of small businesses. “Aerospace here is a reflection of Quebec. Our industrial fabric is largely made up of SMEs. This strength of all the players working together ensures that we are well positioned,” she believes.
With the creation of such a cluster, aerospace companies might be better able to innovate, particularly with regard to vehicle autonomy. “They will be able to be driven without a pilot,” says the CEO of Aéro Montréal.
Mme Lussier also hopes that the sector will continue to obtain support from the federal and provincial governments. She also wants Quebec and Canada to imitate certain initiatives seen elsewhere in the world. “In the United States and France, they don’t hesitate to invest heavily in the industry,” she says.
Some countries sometimes use national defense budgets to help develop aerospace. “They will give contracts to companies. People are going to create the technology under agreements with Defence, paid for by the state,” she explains. These innovations are then transferred and marketed in civilian life, which allows for “a good return on investment”, she believes.
If the Canadian Ministry of Defense already supports the sector, it does so less than elsewhere, says the CEO of Aéro Montreal. “The sums are much smaller and the opportunities for investment in defense are much fewer than in other countries,” she says. However, anything that would allow us to maintain this competitive advantage is really crucial for us. »
This content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.
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