Thanks for your comprehensive reply GroundedSpanner, goes to show how much happens in the background and yet you only get to hear about the stuff that makes for "easy" news.
Venturing off topic:
On the other hand, the role of the Maintenance Planning Engineer today seems to be advertised under more of an administrative guise rather than the analytical, optimisation scope that can improve aircraft availability and hence profits.
This in turn may lead to talent moving away from this field. We already hear about shortages of licensed engineers yet it is this experience that you want to capture in such positions that I personally view as managerial in terms of scope. The reason I consider maintnenance planning optimisation work to be managerial in scope is due to the extent of analytical skills that involve knowledge of the entire aircraft and its operation while following advancements in tools, methods, technology and of course safety findings and using all this information to be proactive or predictive rather than reactive. This is especially true for e-enabled aircraft that will eventually become the norm as they offer game-changing potential for maintenance programme optimisation and hence ways of making an airline improve its profitability.