The alarm has been raised by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): at the end of the year, the Secretary General, Fang Liu, said that “civil aviation should do better to attract and retain the qualified workers it will need in the coming decades”. The finding is shared by the entire industry, which has to imagine new strategies to renew its fleet of pilots… at the risk of being hit with a severe shortage.
The challenge is immense. Aviation industry estimates in Canada suggest that 7,300 new pilots will be needed in the next five years. How did we get to this point? “The training is relatively expensive,” explains Marco Prud’Homme, Vice-President of Nolinor Aviation, based in Mirabel, Quebec. “It takes a few tens of thousands of dollars, around $85,000, to obtain a commercial license. And in flight schools, students don’t always have access to an aircraft when it’s convenient for them, so it takes time and it can discourage them.”
For the executive, who has been scrutinizing the evolution of the market over the past twenty years, there is also an effect “before and after September 11, 2001.” “After the attacks, we lost the point of contact with the next generation, and have been unable to recreate conditions to make students aware of this profession,” he laments. “We’ve fallen far behind.”
Pilotless aircraft?
However, despite the current environmental trend that tends to limit aircraft use (too polluting), there has never been such a great need for pilots. To try to overcome this shortage, Nolinor Aviation, which specializes in charter flights in very high demand, has implemented a system for the past two years that allows aspirants to obtain their commercial license more quickly. “To encourage our employees who have more than one year of seniority to become a pilot, we are financing the training. We purchased an aircraft for practical training. It is an undeniable power of attraction.”
For their part, the behemoths of aviation such as Boeing or Airbus are working on developing systems that could reduce the number of pilots necessary in the cockpit, or even on unmanned aircraft projects! The development is one that the President of the Canadian Airline Pilots Association, Captain Dan Adamus, does not believe in at all, who said on Radio-Canada International: “Pilots are irreplaceable to resolve problems that can arise at any time, even with the most sophisticated systems.” At ICAO, the Secretary General seems to be moving in this direction and even adds: “The same story is likely to happen for air traffic controllers, maintenance staff and other technicians.” A word to the wise!
To read more: Will your plane have a pilot in 2027?
Will your plane have a pilot in 2027 ? Shortage of Pilots in the Canadian Aeronautical Industry