Will There Be Jobs for Pilots?

It seems not a day goes by that we hear about rising unemployment rates and huge problems with the world economy.

How is that impacting us here at AeroStar?

Sure, we’re facing the high cost of gas on our daily commute, and prices of our lunches have gone up in our cafeteria.  We all have friends, neighbors and relatives who may be out of work.

With all that going on, it may seem somewhat “out of touch” or “out of fashion” to be as happy and optimistic as our students, instructors, and business partners are.

We have to wipe the smiles off our faces before we leave the building.

Why is that?

We know that our students are better positioned than anybody to weather the recession and to have great careers for many years to come, doing something that many of them have been passionate about since they were small children.

Our instructors are passionate about flying. We love what we do.  But since we really care about our students, we also need to be able to go home at night feeling like we’re doing something that is good for them as well.

We know these same students that are in our classrooms and simulators today are the same people that will be sending us letters and postcards from all over the world  for years to come, telling us about their careers, their jobs, their promotions, and the locations they’re visiting.

After nearly a four-year drought of job openings, the airline industry is on the brink of what’s predicted to be the biggest surge in pilot hiring in history. Aircraft maker Boeing has forecast a need for 466,650 more commercial pilots by 2029 — an average of 23,300 new pilots a year. Nearly 40% of the openings will be to meet the soaring travel market in the Asia-Pacific region, Boeing predicts, but more than 97,000 will be in North America.

“It is a dramatic turnaround,” says Louis Smith, president of FltOps.com, a website that provides career and financial planning for pilots. “Pilot hiring was severely depressed in the last three years. The next 10 years will be the exact opposite, with the longest and largest pilot hiring boom in the history of the industry.”

The demand for pilots will be so great that the industry could ultimately face a shortage, sparking fierce competition among airlines across the globe vying for candidates qualified to fill their cockpits.

Demand for airline pilots set to soar – Charisse Jones, USA TODAY 6/2011

Pilots for airlines, regional flight services, and corporate flight departments have a very bright future.

Here are some of the facts that add up to make this the ideal scenario for today’s flight students:

• In 2007, President George Bush signed a bill that raised the retirement age for commercial pilots from 60 to 65, allowing more pilots to stay on the job longer.  A number of pilots that were allowed to stay on because of that rule will be retiring before 2012.
• Emerging markets such as China, Asia/Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East are seeing huge growth in the aviation industry.
• The economy has kept many potential flight students from pursuing their training. ATP issuances last year were at a 10 year low and 60% less than in 2000.

This all adds up to an unprecedented opportunity that I would wholeheartedly recommend to my own family and friends.  And it’s yet another reason I can’t stop smiling, even if it’s out of fashion these days.