Airline Industry......?????

[bertyboy60]

As a wannabe pilot currently researching flight schools around the world to start training, I was wondering if anyone can shed any info on the likely future of the Airline Industry...???

I understand the impact recent world events have had on the industry in the past few years but are things slowly on the rise meaning in a few years down the line pilot jobs will once again available...or are things still not looking good....???

Its hard to foresee I know but I was wondering what fellow pilots feel about the situation.....???

Many thanks. Barney.

[PAXboy]

Uumm, read all the current threads in PPRuNe? Seriously, if you read some of the main current ones in as many forums as you can - then hang about and read for another month - then ask a few careful and polite questions and then most of your questions will be answered!
How so?

Follow the threads about whether the A380 will be needed - in those threads are comments about the future of the business.

Read about the number of hours being worked and if the regulations are going to help when the first major prang is attributed to tiredness.

Read what the 'old timers' have to say and so on. Have you seen the thread in this forum about the decline of the professional pilot? Yours question has probably already been answered. It has, after all, been asked here most weeks since Cap'n Danny opened for buisness. Happy reading, for all life is in in PPRuNe.

ps, Welcome aboard! :)

--------------------
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

[Rollingthunder]

the likely future of the Airline Industry...???

It can't go backwards. The twice daily liner from Syd to the UK is not in the cards. You can't take a train from NY to Cape Town. There are no buses from Bombay to Hong Kong. It will be the way to go until I've perfected my damn teleportation system. Just a couple of minor glitches to work out. Then watch out.

[vfenext]

The fact is the industry goes in cycles and the trick is to time your training to coincide with an upturn. Not easy I know, but at the moment as long as the terrorist threat is contained and bush behaves, it looks ok for the short to medium term. Airlines are recruiting and things have recovered to a large extent from 9/11. There are no guarantees of course but you need a combination of luck timing and money.

[barry lloyd]

I started my working life in the civil aviation industry 40 years ago, and apart from an 8-year sabbatical (having been redundant from a national carrier), have been in it ever since, and in that time I've seen a lot of changes, most of them for the better.
The exponential growth of civil aviation could not have been forseen by anyone in those days, and no-one can accurately predict how it will evolve in the future.
However, consider that not too long ago, you needed visa to visit countries which are now members of the EU. Imagine suggesting a hen/stag night in Prague ten years ago - would anyone have gone there?
In the near future - could Kiev be the new Prague? Lo-cost to Belgrade, Bucharest, Sofia, Istanbul - why not? What I am saying, in essence, is that there is a huge market for business and leisure travel which has not yet been thought about and this, combined with the continuing growth within existing routes, will ensure that civil aviation will be around for a very long time to come. Airlines will come and go (they always have - just like other businesses), and this will usually be the result of poor management, rather than the aviation industry itself.
The unexpected and random act of a meglamaniac did set the
business back, but life goes on. People want to/have to travel and all the videoconferencing in the world will not replace a handshake.
I would commend the advice of the other contributors - it's not an easy industry, but aviation is by no means unique in that respect.

Go for it, and good luck in your endeavours!:D

[AIRWAY]

few years down the line pilot jobs will once again available

The industry jobwise for pilots has started to move ( not as fast as hoped but its moving ) a couple of months ago with recruitment drives not only in the Uk but outside as well, so if nothing happens again, then this might be the beginning of a steady recruitment programme by the airlines.

So fingers crossed.

[stagn8]

FYI, industry pundits say:

Air Traffic is slated to grow at 5% (AAGR ’04-’08) per IATA (AAGR means Average Annual Growth Rate). ACI data shows pax growth is forecast at an average of 4% per annum through 2020

That is solid growth, outlook is healthy