Airline boom leaves Asia short of pilots
Asia is facing a huge shortage of pilots as thousands are needed to keep pace with rapid airline expansion and growing numbers of middle class travellers
Taking off: Asian airlines are expanding rapidly Photo: James D. Morgan/Rex Features
By Justin Harper
The region will require a staggering 230,000 trained pilots over the next two decades to keep up with growth and replace those retiring, according to figures from the
International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Fast-growing Asian airlines have signed orders for hundreds of planes as improving wealth in the region means more people can now afford to fly, particularly in China and India. But airlines must now find enough pilots to fly them while maintaining tough safety standards.
Budget airlines are also growing in popularity, with many well-known carriers now offering cheap flights across the region including
Qantas,
Singapore Airlinesand
Thai Airways.
On an annual basis Asia will have a shortage of 9,000 pilots a year, as 14,000 will be needed, but there is only capacity to train 5,000. The shortfall looks likely to be filled by Western pilots.
William Voss, president of US-based
Flight Safety Foundation, said: “Never in human history have we seen a time when two billion people will enter the middle class and demand air travel. That time is now.”
Training an international airline pilot is time-consuming, typically taking up to four years, and expensive. Many Asian airlines are looking to build flight training centres and attract foreign pilots to fill the gap. China now has at least 1,300 foreign flight captains.
But Gideon Ewers, a spokesman for the UK-based
International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) said: “There are cultural issues and social dynamics to consider. Pilots from Australia and Europe for example tend to be more forthright than Asian pilots. There are also language issues to bear in mind. While English is the language of aviation there are differing levels when it comes to pilots across Asia.”
Another problem is attracting pilots to an industry that is no longer seen as glamorous. Mr Ewers added: “Starting salaries can be as low as US$21,000 on a small airline and you have to clock a lot more flying time than before, especially with the budget airlines.”
Industry experts also predict shortages of maintenance personnel to service aircraft. Manufacturer
Boeing estimates that Asia will need about 250,000 new technicians over the next two decades to keep pace with industry expansion, but the roles are seen as unattractive and hard to train for.