SINGAPORE—Collins Aerospace’s Power & Controls division is striving to increase its workforce and meet OEM demand for a production ramp-up.

This year, between 500-800 hires are planned, possibly bringing the head count to 8,800, President Henry Brooks told ShowNews at the Singapore Airshow.

In 2020, cuts caused by the COVID-19 crisis shrank the division’s payroll to 7,000 from 9,000, but it has recovered to 8,000. “I would be thrilled if we could reach 9,000,” he says.

Workers from temporary employment agencies were hit first, before full-time employees, Brook says.

“Skill sets have left the industry,” he says. Some workers have retired and others have gone to “nonconventional competitors.” For an aerospace company trying to retain its human resources, such competitors are outside the industry—typically a datacentric company such as Amazon, Brook says, where salaries tend to be higher. All that context makes hiring a challenge.

In maintenance, repair and overhaul, too, Collins is hiring to meet demand.