Story on the front page of today's Gulf Daily News (so it must be true)
PILOT CRISIS HITS AIRLINES
Posted on » Saturday, December 03, 2011
DUBAI: The global aviation sector is all set for turbulent times, with an escalating shortage of pilots, experts warned yesterday.
The scramble to lure the best will intensify as fast-growing Middle East and other Asian airlines buy hundreds of new planes.
The widening shortage of experienced pilots is also raising safety concerns and playing havoc with flight schedules.
Analysts point out that airlines in India, which already need about 2,000 pilots urgently, have signed up for 180 aircraft at the Dubai air show.
Last month, Indonesia's Lion Air ordered 230 Boeing 737s with options for 150 more. Qatar Airways ordered at least 55 jets from Airbus while Emirates ordered 50 Boeing 777s. From 2011 to 2030, Boeing and Airbus both predict Asia will account for about a third of global aircraft deliveries worth a total of more than $1 trillion.
To keep up with growth and replace retiring pilots, the International Civil Aviation Organisation forecasts Asia will need 229,676 pilots over the next two decades, up from 50,344 last year.
In the most likely scenario, Asia will be short by more than 9,000 pilots a year.
"Never in human history have we seen a time when two billion people will enter the middle class and demand air travel," says William Voss, president of the Washington, DC-based Flight Safety Foundation.
"That time is now."
Looks like now is the time to train as a pilot
