Avionics News November 2014 - 11

AEA scholarship
applications available online
The Aircraft Electronics Association Educational
Foundation will award more than 20 scholarships
totaling more than $125,000 for the 2015-16 school
year to students pursuing a career in avionics or aircraft
maintenance, as well as students from AEA member
companies.
Since its inception, the AEA scholarship program
has awarded more than $1.5 million in scholarships.
Numerous awards are available, ranging from $1,000 to
more than $35,000 each.

AEA Educational
Foundation

Scholarship applications are available online at www.
aea.net/scholarship. The deadline to submit applications
for the 2015-16 academic year is April 1, 2015. q

2014 Rate and Labor Survey results
now available to AEA members
For the third straight year, a growing percentage of
Aircraft Electronics Association members in the U.S.
expect their business to grow in the next 12 months.
According to this year's AEA Rate & Labor Survey,
69 percent of the avionics repair stations that participated in the survey said they are optimistic for future
growth. This figure is up compared to the 62 percent
of shops that expected future growth in 2013, and 56
percent in 2012.
So what is fueling the industry's surge in optimism? Of the 69 percent of U.S. repair stations
expecting growth, more than two-thirds of those
respondents believe such growth is on the horizon
due to the Federal Aviation Administration's ADS-B
Out mandate looming on New Year's Day 2020,
along with the fact that new equipment and ADS-B
compliant solutions have been introduced to the marketplace in 2014 with more expected next year.
The survey also showed an increase in shop rates
from the previous year across the board, including
the U.S., Canada and South Pacific.
"As demand for repair station work increases the

closer we get to the 2020 ADS-B mandate in the
U.S., we expect to see rising shop rates," said Mike
Adamson, AEA vice president of member programs
and education. "This should come as no surprise to
aircraft owners who have repeatedly been informed
of a potential backlog of installs in the coming years.
The cost to comply with the ADS-B mandate is not
getting cheaper. Even if new product solutions continue to be developed, aircraft owners who procrastinate with installing a compliant solution will face
higher shop rates and labor costs."
The survey also noted that competition within the
industry was increasing, qualified avionics technicians are difficult to find, and regulatory hurdles are a
limiting factor in the success of government-certified
repair stations.
For a complete look at the 2014 AEA Rate and
Labor Survey, AEA members may view the entire
report online after entering their member login at
www.aea.net/memberservices/rateandlabor.asp.
For a more in-depth analysis of this year's survey,
read Scott Spangler's story on page 28. q

avionics news

november

2014

http://www.aea.net/scholarship http://www.aea.net/scholarship http://www.aea.net/memberservices/rateandlabor.asp

Avionics News November 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News November 2014