BMM builds talent pipeline to support Malaysia's push in global MRO market

KUALA LUMPUR: Base Maintenance Malaysia Sdn Bhd (BMM) is ramping up hiring of local talent as Malaysia's deep pool of technical experts and expanding aerospace ecosystem position the country to capture a large share of global maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) demand.

BMM chief executive officer Lee Yang Loong said the country is well placed to benefit from structural shifts in the global aviation sector particularly amid a shortage of skilled engineers and technicians.

"Malaysia is very well endowed with the rich talent pool of staff, and for us, we think aerospace is a growing sector, especially with the push of the Malaysian government as well as the Selangor state they have also all identified the aerospace sector as a key sector of growth."

"So, I think with this, coupled with the global MRO demand and global shortage of aircraft engineers and technicians, I think it's a very good state where a lot of the workforce, if they choose to enter the sector, they'll be quite richly rewarded in terms of opportunities of progression, growth and development in the sector," he told Business Times in an interview recently.

Lee said the long-term growth of Malaysia's MRO sector will depend on the industry's ability to collectively attract and retain talent particularly as competition intensifies across sectors.

"The Malaysian government has been very successful. There's a lot of aircraft original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and MROs that are already here. What we need to do together as an industry is to further attract (talents) because today there are a lot of competing industries that are also trying to attract the talents."

"As an aerospace sector collectively as an industry, we want to attract entrants to join us to then have enough talent pool to support the industry…I think that it is important that we work together to build a pipeline, strengthen the pipeline and train more people to join the industry," Lee said.

He added that talent development in the industry should be viewed as a shared responsibility to ensure the sector's sustainability.

"We're all in the same industry. So, it's important for us to ensure that we have enough attraction to pull in new graduates or new entrants to join the industry, get trained, develop themselves with the right skills, right certifications and approvals, so that we have more talent pool to choose from."

"As an industry, we should be working together to build and grow this. It's not mutually exclusive. There's a lot of collaboration that can be done. We're also working with some of the association like Malaysia Aerospace Industry Association (MAIA) to coordinate and recruit and attract more people in the industry," he said.

To support its expansion, BMM has put in place a technical training programme to bring in new entrants and prepare them for aircraft maintenance roles.

Lee said BMM recruit technicians both fresh graduates and those from other industries into its Technician Trainee Programme where they will undergo 12-months training that includes six months of classroom training and six months of practical.

Trainees who passed the assessments will then graduate from the programme and join BMM as a full-time staff.

Recently in March 2026, BMM has celebrated the graduation of its first cohort of 55 trainee technicians as part of its commitment to developing skilled talent for Malaysia's aerospace sector and strengthening its aerospace workforce pipeline.

BMM said in a statement that it has enrolled over 100 technicians in the programme to date.

The company is also working closely with local institutions including Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Institute of Aviation Technology, ADMAL Aviation College and APR Aviation Training Centre to increase the local talent pool.