While the world suffers from a shortage of pilots, which is becoming more urgent as airlines continue to grow, South African pilots are increasingly opting to leave the country for attractive careers with foreign carriers to meet this shortage.
Japan recently announced that a shortage of pilots would hinder the growth of Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways and the governments plans for tourism. Japan currently has about 7 100 pilots and the government has projected that another 1 000 pilots will be needed in the next five years to meet its target of attracting 60 million tourists by 2030, according to Bloomberg .
KLM shares the pilot-shortage concern and recently asked part-time pilots to return to full-time work, warning that the airline would have to ground part of its fleet in 2027 if more pilots were not found.
The Centre for Aviation (CAPA) predicts that the intake of new pilots every year would need to be 7% to 8% of the existing active pilot population, for global goals to be met.
Boeing has forecast that 649 000 new commercial pilots will be needed in the next 20 years. This number exceeds Airbuss prediction that the industry will need 585 000 new pilots before 2041.
