Future skills for airport fuel ecosystems

This report summarises findings from a Workforce Foresighting cycle on Enabling Future Fuel Ecosystems at Airports. This work was delivered by Connected Places Catapult in partnership with the Workforce Foresighting Hub and sponsored by London Luton Airport.

Why workforce foresighting matters

Workforce foresighting is a systemic approach that helps industry, educators, and policymakers anticipate how emerging technologies will shape workforce demand. By identifying future capability requirements early, education and training systems can adapt in time — ensuring the workforce is ready to meet new challenges as they emerge.

In this study, foresighting has been applied to one of the most complex industrial transitions underway: enabling the safe and scalable deployment of alternative fuel ecosystems across the UK aviation sector.

Context

The UK has committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050, with aviation identified as a priority sector for decarbonisation through initiatives such as the Jet Zero Strategy.
Delivering this ambition will require rapid deployment of:

• Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to reduce near-term emissions
• Hydrogen fuel systems to enable zero-emission flight
• Electric propulsion infrastructure to support new aircraft technologies

However, these technologies add significant complexity. Airports must convert their infrastructure from a single-fuel type to a multi-fuel ecosystem, each with unique handling, storage, and safety protocols.

At the same time, increasing digitalisation creates cyber-physical systems in which digital controls and physical infrastructure are tightly integrated. This introduces new operational vulnerabilities and requires new forms of resilience.
Together, these changes represent a step change in how airports operate — requiring new capabilities across engineering, digital systems, safety, regulation and operations.

Implications for the workforce

The findings point to a fundamental redefinition of airport workforce—not just a shift in skills, but a transformation in how work is structured, roles are designed, and capabilities are developed across the system. The transition to multi-fuel, digitally enabled operations require moving from traditional, siloed roles to an integrated, systems-led workforce model.

The convergence of disciplines into more integrated, system-led roles

This transformation centres on the convergence of previously distinct domains. Future airport operations will rely on roles that integrate engineering, digital, safety, and regulatory expertise. Fuel infrastructure engineers, cybersecurity specialists, and safety professionals will work within tightly coupled cyber-physical systems, were digital controls and physical assets function together.

This convergence changes the nature of work. Success will rely on understanding and managing interdependencies across systems, ensuring integrated outcomes for performance, safety, and security. The workforce will need both technical depth and the ability to manage complexity across boundaries.

The emergence of new roles is reshaping the workforce architecture

The study highlights the emergence of a new generation of roles that reflect this system-level complexity. These Future Occupational Profiles signal a shift away from traditional job definitions towards flexible, capability-based role design.

Roles such as fuel infrastructure engineers, sustainability specialists, cybersecurity professionals, and regulatory leads represent a reconfiguration of how capability is organised. These roles require blended expertise, challenging established career pathways and professional identities.

Organisations must redesign roles and progression routes to reflect this hybridisation, creating adaptable career pathways that evolve with technology.

A structural misalignment between workforce supply and future demand

There is a significant gap between the current workforce and future needs. This misalignment is structural, not minor, and resolving it is crucial for the sector’s successful transition.

Existing qualifications and apprenticeship standards do not yet fully support the emerging capability needs, particularly in areas such as hydrogen fuel systems, cyber-physical security, systems integration and regulatory compliance. This reflects a lag in the skills system, where provision has not yet caught up with the pace and nature of technological change.

Without targeted intervention, the sector will struggle to deploy new technologies safely and effectively, regardless of investment or infrastructure readiness.

End-to-end pressure across the workforce pipeline

This transformation places pressure across the entire workforce pipeline, from entry-level through to senior leadership. At the front end, there is a lack of clear, accessible pathways into emerging roles, limiting the development of future talent. At the mid-level, there is a need for significant upskilling as roles evolve to incorporate new technical and cross-disciplinary capabilities. At the senior level, there is a shortage of system-level expertise required to design, govern and regulate complex multi-fuel environments.

This creates a dual risk: a constrained talent pipeline at one end, and a shortage of strategic capability at the other. Together, these challenges could threaten both the pace of workforce renewal and organisations’ ability to lead and manage transformation effectively.

Workforce capability as the critical enabler of sector transformation

Ultimately, the findings reinforce that workforce capability is now a critical enabler — and potential constraint — on the aviation sector’s transition to sustainable fuel ecosystems. Technology alone will not deliver the transition. Success will depend on whether the workforce has the capabilities to integrate systems, manage risk, and operate safely in increasingly complex environments.

This elevates workforce development from a supporting activity to a strategic priority. Early responses position organisations to better adopt new technologies and maintain resilience. Those who do not may risk falling behind due to capability gaps rather than access to technology.

Next steps

The report highlights the need for immediate, coordinated action across industry, education and policy. Key priorities include:

• Establishing cross-sector working groups to validate findings and coordinate delivery
• Updating apprenticeship standards and qualifications to reflect emerging roles
• Developing targeted CPD and upskilling programmes for the existing workforce
• Strengthening collaboration between airports, fuel providers, educators and regulators
• Appointing a sector champion to drive momentum and alignment

Further work will refine occupational profiles, support curriculum development and enable scalable workforce planning.