An AP story last week raised safety concerns over the forecasted shortage of qualified pilots to take the controls of expanding fleets around the world. Boeing expects commercial airlines will need about 460,000 new pilots between now and 2031. In the United States, that number is expected to be 69,000 pilots.
Some airlines are already struggling. The story reported that airlines based in Asia and the Middle East have been holding pilot job fairs in the United States, and thousands of pilots laid off due to U.S. airlines bankruptcies and mergers are now flying for foreign carriers.
With the pilot market stretched thin, we’ve also heard the same problems from our sister publication, AMT, over finding the next generation of techs to make needed repairs to all those new planes.
So what about the ground support industry? What are you doing to pay it forward to make sure we have skilled people ready for our work force?
Through our LinkedIn Group, Tony Chambers, a UK aviation consultant, told me about an interesting apprentice program in his country. These are government-funded programs for 16-18 year olds and also 19-24 year olds.
“Any UK-based aviation company can access this funding as well as any non-UK-based firms that operate and employ in the UK,” he wrote.
Chambers is primarily involved in training for ground operations that includes nearly any ground handling job right up to the supervisor level. Here’s a link to the basics.
I know. I know. Taxes. Probably not a popular way to fund educating the next baggage handler in this country any time soon.
However, I used to cover the construction industry and heard plenty about the labor shortage in that market, too. Here are a few interesting items in the public/private sector I found that might spark some creativity, including a great little short film. Speaking of which ...
