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General News of Monday, 16 November 2020

Source: thenationonlineng.net

Global aviation needs 260,000 new pilots

Global aviation industry would require about 260,000 new pilots in the next decade forecast by international civil aviation training specialist, CAE 2020-2029 Pilot Demand Outlook, has revealed.

The global demand for new pilots continues to increase despite the COVID -19 pandemic toll on the current civil aviation market as players in the sector, including airlines, aircraft manufacturers and aviation training institutions look forward to rebound beginning from 2021.

Despite pandemic shocks , investigations by The Nation revealed that prospective carriers in Nigerian aviation sector including Green Africa Airways , United Nigeria Airlines, Nigeria Air, Jet Airways and Value Jets are perfecting plans to acquire over 100 airplanes, which would require pilots to fly them.

Besides the new entrants, existing carriers and some operators that suspended operations are reactivating restart plans with aircraft orders , which would also require pilots in the strategic sector.

While Green Africa Airways intends to acquire over Airbus 50 aircraft , confirming the need for more pilots, United Africa Ailines on its part plans to acquire Embraer regional jets with possibilities of creating employment opportunities for pilots and other professionals.

CAE Incorporated, which is a Canadian manufacturer of simulation technologies, modelling technologies and training services to airlines, aircraft manufacturers, healthcare specialists, and defence customers said its forecast indicates that the active pilot population is expected to return to 2019 levels in 2022.

The international training specialist said pilots retirements and attrition are expected to become a challenge as air travel recovers and will create an “acute demand” with a short-term need for some 27,000 new pilots as of late 2021, growing to 260,000 over a 10-year period.

In business aviation alone, CAE is predicting that 41,000 new pilots will be needed over the next decade to make up for anticipated retirements and attrition.

This is projected as CAE notes the business aviation market is facing “massive retirements” as “the percentage of pilots over the age of 50 continues to increase versus the total civil aviation industry pilot pool. Currently, this pilot population age represents a disproportionately high rate.”

It further sees the airlines scooping up a portion of business aviation pilots.

On top of this, CAE projected a need for another 4,000 to accommodate growth for a total need of 45,000 new business aviation professional pilots over the forecast period.

The airlines, meanwhile, need 126,000 new pilots to offset attrition and retirements and then 93,000 to accommodate growth.

CAE acknowledged that the sudden drop in air travel demand hindered the industry’s growth trajectory. “Airlines and operators around the world have adjusted their operations to align with lower demand. Thousands of pilots have been furloughed in recent months,” the company noted. But it wondered whether this ultimately might play into stronger pilot needs in the future.

“Many of them have pivoted to other professions and might not want to resume their pilot careers,” CAE said. “On the one hand, airlines and operators have reduced the pilot workforce to offset the financial impact of the pandemic. On the other hand, data indicates that the industry will face significant challenges in the upcoming years to meet the demand for pilots.”

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CAE said fundamental factors driving pilot demand before the pandemic remain in place. “Age-based retirement combined with fleet growth were and remain the main drivers of pilot demand,” the company said. “Third-party analysis shows that commercial aviation and business aviation markets are forecast to continue growing over the next decade—over 11,000 additional business and commercial aircraft are expected to join the active world fleet during that period.”

Of this, CAE anticipates that 3,600 additional aircraft will come from the business aviation market.

The anticipated demand is going to put pressure on the civil training industry, CAE said. “The industry is experiencing an unexpected change of course and facing unprecedented challenges, driving us to reconsider how we can develop and train better pilots,” it said.

“One smart approach for coming together as an industry to meet the demand for pilots, as well as instructors, is to embrace training partnerships.”

Finding adequate instructors was an issue before the pandemic, it added. “As growth returns to the industry, the availability of high-quality instructors will pose a challenge for years to come.”

The training provider also expressed concern about a lack of funding for prospective students, noting that less than 10 percent of eligible aspiring pilots have access to direct funding.

“Rather than leaving talent on the bench due to funding, we can work as facilitators for access to direct funding by educating the financial industry on the job outlook for pilots and the reality of training,” CAE said, pointing to its recent launch of a financing initiative in collaboration with financial institutions for prospective pilots.

“With the 2020-2029 CAE Pilot Demand Outlook, we hope to arm the industry with the insights that will help the global aviation community understand, rethink, and learn about how to continue to build and grow the supply of highly qualified pilots as the industry emerges from the downturn,’’ said Nick Leontidis, group president of CAE’s Civil Aviation Training Solutions.