It started as a normal morning in the flight department—until a senior maintenance technician handed in their resignation. The news spread like wildfire.

“Why are they leaving?” whispered one technician. “More money? A better schedule? Is it our culture?” asked another.

Within hours, the department was in full-blown panic mode. Managers scrambled to reassure the team, and the director of maintenance had to begin the lengthy process of hiring a replacement.

But the real challenge wasn’t just finding someone new—it was calculating what was truly lost.

The Hard Costs: What Shows Up on the Budget

Beyond the hidden toll of lost knowledge and productivity, turnover hits the bottom line in ways impossible to ignore. From overtime expenses to training investments, the financial impact of replacing a technician adds up quickly.

When a technician leaves, the work continues, forcing existing staff to take on substantial overtime to bridge the gap. Paying overtime to a seasoned, non-exempt technician adds up rapidly. For instance, one department’s most experienced technician earns an overtime rate of $100.75. At just 10 hours of overtime per week over 26 weeks, the cost exceeds $26,000.

In Southern California, technician overtime could average 16 to 20 hours weekly, adding more than $1,500 per week until a new technician is hired and trained, a process that takes five to six months. Total labor augmentation costs in these cases could easily approach $40,000.

Smaller flight departments with eight or fewer technicians might require labor coverage to jump by 12% to 15% when someone leaves. This situation might mandate hiring a contract technician, who often commands up to $1,500 per day, especially when managing internal inspections.

Contractor specialists like FAST Team charge rates up to $250 per hour, plus expenses for meals, hotels, and travel. Including these expenses, daily rates often range from $2,500 to $3,000. Over a six-month period, contractor costs alone could accumulate to around $360,000.

Training and Certification Costs

Once a new hire is found, they require training to get up to speed—often specific to the aircraft type. This isn’t a quick process:

Initial or recurrent training. If the new hire requires aircraft-specific maintenance, the technician will be gone for two to four weeks. Widebody maintenance initial runs about $50,000, including travel, hotel, and meals.

Engine and avionics training. Rolls-Royce, Honeywell, or satcom certifications can add thousands more.

Even if training credits have been pre-purchased, the opportunity cost of losing a technician for a month can disrupt operations significantly. And don’t forget the overtime to pay to augment the labor.

The Rising Cost of Compensation

If the organization has fallen behind in compensating competitively, replacing a departing technician can often require a higher salary, setting off a chain reaction. The following example uses current data from the AirComp Calculator for a senior maintenance technician on a large-cabin jet in a major aviation market with three senior maintenance techs and a benefit load of 25%:

If the previous technician was compensated at the 25th percentile ($160,500 annually), you might need to come up to the 50th percentile to hire the talent you need. That would require increasing compensation by approximately 20%, to $193,200. This increase means all similarly ranked technicians may expect adjustments to their pay—potentially adding more than $98,100 to the department’s budget. Full compensation—including benefits, 401(k), and incentives—can push the annual cost of a new hire to $241,500. And for the department, that’s an increase of $122,625 spread across three senior techs.

Keep in mind that a one-time sign-on bonus—even at line-level new-hire positions—is becoming more regular. Several maintenance directors have recently paid sign-on bonuses between $10,000 and $28,000. If you live in a high-cost-of-living area, consider relocation expenses, which run from $25,000 to $40,000.

The Soft Costs: What’s Lost but Hard to Quantify

When a key team member leaves, the financial impact is clear; recruiting, hiring, and training add up quickly. But what about the losses that don’t show up on a balance sheet? When experienced technicians leave, their expertise and aircraft-specific knowledge go out the door, destabilizing the team and disrupting operational efficiency.

Imagine this: Your senior technician, with 20 years of experience, knows every nuance of your aircraft. They’ve solved maintenance issues that aren’t in any manual. They know the quirks of the fleet, the vendors, and the unwritten rules of the hangar. Now they’re gone.

Replacing that experience is impossible. A new hire may have the credentials, but it will take years to develop the same depth of knowledge. In the meantime, expect slower maintenance turnaround times, increased reliance on external maintenance providers, and a higher likelihood of operational delays and inefficiencies.

Even the best new hire won’t operate at full capacity on day one. It takes time to learn company-specific processes, develop trust with the team, and understand the operational flow of the department.

In many cases, it can take six months to a year for a new technician to reach peak productivity. Retention isn’t just about filling a role—it’s about protecting the knowledge, stability, and efficiency that keep your operation running smoothly.

It’s difficult to quantify the cost of the bridging time for a new tech to obtain credibility with preexisting flight and maintenance crews. This is critical to dispatch reliability. One impact to dispatch—due to mistrust, or simply not knowing the new guy/gal—could drive an avoidable AOG event costing tens of thousands of dollars. Not to mention an impact on an executive’s travel schedule.

Impact on Team Morale

When one technician leaves, others may question their own futures or become resentful about extra overtime work. Existing employees may become concerned about the team’s stability and feel disengaged when their workload doubles. They now have to spend the next year teaching and trusting a new hire.

Internal training burnout can lead to cascading departures. It can also take several months, or even up to a year, for the new hire to adapt to and embrace their new work environment.

Resentment grows if the new hire comes in at a higher salary. Existing employees can feel undervalued, creating a costly, ongoing cycle of turnover.

Another consideration: Teammates talk—even after leaving. Once someone exits, the team gains insight into competitor salaries, benefits, and culture—both good and bad.

They'll also know exactly how management handled departures. Did leaders care? Was there an exit interview? Were they upset or indifferent? All of these leadership behaviors speak volumes to the individual team members about how the company values them and their work.

The Business Case for Retention

To make a compelling case, it is key to know and be able to articulate the significant costs of replacement, emphasizing that retention isn’t just about maintaining a happy team—it’s a financial imperative in aviation.

So what are the costs? Based on our experience, it could take the organization up to six months to recruit, hire, and onboard a replacement. Given that, I reached out to several maintenance directors to craft a conservative “back of the napkin” estimate to hire a replacement Northeast-based senior maintenance technician. Our estimate is in excess of $200,000. That’s nearly a year’s pay!

Here’s a breakdown of the $200,000:

• Up to $120,000 for contractor and/or overtime support to cover planned maintenance inspections (for example, 20 days a month for five to six months)
• $50,000 for initial training and travel expenses for an OEM initial or recurrent, which takes the new hire out of town for up to 21 days
• $15,000 sign-on bonus
• $25,000 for relocation costs (a family of four can cost up to $75,000)
• $15,000 for internal hiring processing and travel-related costs (without a third-party recruiter)

Back to creating your business case. Following are ways to help your HR, compensation, and leadership team understand that your organization can proactively reduce turnover by:

• Ensuring competitive compensation to keep wages in line with industry trends
• Providing clear career growth opportunities, including leadership training and professional development
• Supporting work-life balance to reduce burnout and prevent technicians from seeking less stressful roles elsewhere
• Fostering a strong workplace culture, where technicians feel valued beyond just their paycheck

When in doubt, educate your leadership and your HR partner about the uniqueness of the business aviation industry. Present retention as a business risk avoidance to the organization.

Run the numbers by comparing the costs of retention initiatives against the significant costs of turnover, particularly for a senior-level technician. Explain the work-life issues compared to a corporate employee, and compare to potential competitors of nearby operators. And don’t forget to highlight the impact of the ongoing challenging maintenance shortage and the fiercely competitive compensation landscape.

Some of these costs will happen when a technician retires, but hopefully you’re not incurring the costs under so much pressure.

Bottom Line

Retaining skilled senior maintenance technicians is not just about avoiding the financial burden of turnover. It’s about preserving the stability and efficiency of your operation. Proactive measures—such as offering competitive compensation, fostering a positive work culture, and investing in employee development—can significantly reduce the risk of losing top talent.

By prioritizing retention, aviation organizations can minimize disruptions, maintain productivity, and ultimately safeguard their bottom line in an increasingly competitive aviation industry.

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily endorsed by AIN Media Group.