Introduction
The aviation industry is undoubtedly one of the busiest in the world. However, the current statistics have revealed that the industry is currently facing a massive shortage of pilots. The shortage as reported is currently affecting this industry and is projected to have a negative impact on the operations of the industry for an extended period of time. The aviation sector has been hit hard by a seemingly inextinguishable growing demand of the new pilots. For instance, it is projected that in the next twenty years, the airline in North American specifically may need nearly 117,000 number of pilots to control the cockpit. The deficit seems not to be plateauing with the new statistic projecting that by the year 2025, U.S. may have 2,000 pilot deficit as opposed to the first statistic which placed the number at 155 in the year 2016. The finger points to the number of aircraft which is constantly increasing thereby increasing the size of the aviation industry. Further, there is a high rate of growth of passengers who demand air travel. This is due to the global operations which many people are currently preferring than the domestic ones. Different questions are asked concerning the impending stand-off in the flight industry as result of the pilot shortages. The first question which seems to take the headlines is why? This question takes the headlines because the pilot career is given a consideration as one of the most rewarding careers. And so to many people, it is ridiculous that this lucrative career lack individuals who are interested. The next question is what can be done for the sinister situation be averted? Considering the fact that this is the fastest means of reaching long distance destination, the solution is needed urgently. Other than these questions, other concerns have been raised about the effects of pilot shortages in the flight industry now and even in the future. Fortunately, this is the primary aim of this article.
In this article, the author presents qualitative literature research on some specific documents which have majored on the issue of pilot shortages in the aviation industry. The author presents well researched comments, views as well as perceptions of the authors of the five literary secondary documents which has critically analyzed and present data, comments as well as views concerning the issue of pilot shortages in the aviation industry. In this research document, the author has researched and compiled findings from five articles which have answered the questions on why, how and the solutions to curb the issue of pilot shortages in the aviation industry.
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Background information
The recent statistics from Boeing study revealed that in the next twenty years, the world would need nearly 637,000 new pilots around the globe. This is nearly eighty new pilots entering the flight market on a daily basis for an extended period of two decades. The report also indicated that by the year 2027, the world would need nearly 90, 000 new pilots. With the rapid expansion of the middle class mostly in Asia as well as Pacific regions, it is predicted that Asia alone may need nearly 230, 000 pilots when the calendar hit 2030. The situation is the same in Canada. In their research documented in their article, Industry in Motion: Pilot Study on Instructor and Management Perceptions of New Hire Pilot Technical and Professional Preparation. Wilson & Dace (2016), claim that The Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC) must issue more than 6, 000 licenses to new pilots in order to match the ever-increasing demand of pilot by the year 2018. The worse part of it according to the report compiled by Boeing is that out of the estimated number of 637, 000 pilots needed, only 60% of them will occupy the new posts, 40% is likely to replace the old pilots who shall have retired by then. The statistics further reveals that the industry is facing a massive dilemma as result of the early age of retirements by pilots. It is projected that in the next decade, nearly 42% of the pilots who have licenses today in the U.S. will leave the cockpit to enjoy their fortunes. It means that the effects which are currently faced by the flight industry are far from over.
Research objectives
The study has defined objectives which will guide the research. At the end of the research, the reader must have answers to the following objective:
To identify causes of the increased shortages of pilot across the aviation industry.
To identify solutions or the factors which result in shortages of pilots in the aviation industry.
To analyze the current and future effect of the pilot shortages saga on the aviation industry.
Research Hypothesis
There is a high shortage of pilots in the aviation industry
The pilot shortages facing the aviation industry are not tied to the financial constraints facing the families and children with the ability to support their children in this field.
The massive pilot shortages in the aviation industry have caused a negative impact on the industry.
Methods and procedure of literature selection
There are different methods which were employed by the researcher to come up with the best five secondary data which are used in the research document. The research was done both in the library and online. In the library, ten articles were random samples by the year of publication and the precision of information. Also, the author, as well as the reviews of the article, were given consideration. Out of the ten articles, two of them were randomly picked and majored on. On the online research, there were keywords which were used in researching the best articles in the online libraries and academic web pages. The researcher had a list of the three web pages where documents were extracted. The Keywords used were shortages of pilots, pilot training, and pilot career. There were a lot of documents concerning this topic. The priority was given to the most recent articles preferably from the year 2016 to 2018. Cluster sampling provided the researcher with five documents. Random sampling was done to select the best three articles which were majored in.
Finding and discussion of the literary document
The massive shortage of pilots which is currently witnessed in American and other parts of the world has attracted the attention of many scholars. Scholars have aired their concerns trying to do their best to reveal the reasons why this sinister scenario has hit the aviation industry. Most of the scholars are concerns about the impact of this massive pilot shortage in the aviation industry. In this section, the article documents the views of some of the literature which has had interest in majoring in this case.
The reasons behind pilot shortages in the aviation industry
Greubel et al. (2016), in their report documented in the article, Pilot Supply & Industry Consequences Update claim that the rationale behind the pilot shortages in the aviation industry is majorly due to financial constraints. According to them, all the obstacles which cause the shortage of the pilots in the aviation industry is, unfortunately, tide to their inability to raise money for training. First, the authors claim that for one to be a pilot, they have to prepare huge amount of money which will cover the flight training. According to this report, there was a scenario in the past years which made the aviation industry brimmed with pilots. During this time, most of the pilots who were hired were the retirees from the military departments. Currently, this number has dwindled. This has forced the focus to shift to the recruits from the training institutions who have interested in enjoying the cockpit. Though there are sponsors for some of the people who are lucky to get one, those who are interested in this career have to battle it out with the huge finance that is needed for the full completion of the flight training. As explained by Greubel et al. (2016), “Aspiring pilots, who aren’t able to secure a place on the limited number of airline sponsored training schemes, need to find large sums of money to pay for their own ab-initio-to-ATPL training costs, and in many cases, a Type Rating too, before an airline will consider them employable.”
Also, the authors explain that the current situation is much different from what used to be witnessed some years back in the aviation industry. They claim that in the past, the cadets were being sponsored by institutions which supported aviation industry. However, today, parents have to sponsor the cadets and it has become much hectic owing to the huge fees needed in this institutions. It is estimated that for a novice person to be in a position to take the right-hand seat in the cockpit, they have to use nearly sixty to a hundred thousand Euros. This is not a sum of money which can be afforded by many people in the world. In order to supplement their fees during the training, Greubel et al. (2016), have noted that most of the pilots would either prefer working as part, time or take out substantial loans.
The second obstacle is the starting salary according to Harris (2017). It is undoubtedly that pilot is perceived as one of the most rewarding careers in the world. However, the revelation by Harris (2017) may come as a shocker to those who are aspiring to venture into the cockpit. Despite the surprise, it need to be known that this revelation is the truth. It is also one of the factors which has discouraged many young people who would like to venture into this career. According to Harris (2017), the starting salary for the recruits in this field is below the expectations. In his book he include a testimony of the person who drops this course after due to financial burden which could not be repaid immediately by the starting salary. In his testimony Travis, a 32 years old aspiring pilot explained that “I had so much momentum, was going into it with this drive, but once the financial aspects started to take over, it was really discouraging,” he said. “It wasn’t that I’m medically disqualified, not that I wasn’t able to overcome the material. Every time I’d come to an obstacle, I’d overcome it, but the financial aspect put a stop to it right there.” It is has become a problem for the students who take loans to venture into this field only to face lower pay at the start of the career that cannot pay the huge sum of money they are needed to refund the Banks.
The impact of the pilot shortages in the aviation industry
Heshmati and Kim (2016) in their article, In Efficiency and Competitiveness of International Airline majors on the current and future implication of the current shortages of pilots in the Aviation industry. According to this authors, the demand for the air traveling is worsening off as the globe opens up for different people in different fields in the world. However, the traveling rate has been forced to be cut off or deliberately reduced by many air traveling companies as result of lack of trained pilot to fly airlines. Further, these companies have also been forced to reduce the number of scheduled destination for many airlines since the number of pilots available to aid in travelling by plane is limited. Further, Heshmati and Kim (2016) has noted that there has been a high rate of flight cancellation as result of the less number of pilots who can be contracted to fly these planes. These effects have not only hit the aviation industry, but the economy of different countries in the world. In their documents, Zhu & Liu (2017) also support this point by giving out numerous examples to explain how the pilot shortages have caused a lot of drama in the aviation industry. The first example given is the Horizon air Lines and how the company was forced in August 2017 to reduce its busy schedule. The company was forced to cancel more than three hundred flights in order to accommodate the planes which had ready pilots. In the same year, it was reported that Republic Airways had filed a form of bankruptcy protection. The company cited lack of pilots as the major cause of impending bankruptcy threat. In the same year in Europe, Reynar also was forced to cancel nearly 2500 flight before the winter schedule. The reason given by the company was the inadequacy of the available pilots who could aid in managing the busy winter schedule.
The worse part of the report is that these challenges may continue as result of the following reasons. First, there is high demand for flight travel by many people. This is because many people are venturing into the international deals and business which requires them to travel from one destination to another across the globe. Also, there is increasing technology inventions in the field of Aviation. This has led to many different types of flights in their large quantity. In this case, the snug is that the rate at which the number of planes is increasing is not being matched by the rate at which new pilots are trained. It thus means that there is no proportionality between this factors and the problem may continue.
Solutions
According to Heshmati and Kim (2016) this situation can be controlled in case good strategies are put in place. The authors suggest that each and every aviation institution to have its own academy where they sponsor those who are interested in venturing into this career based on merits. The authors claimed that this institution should have an exam where those who manage to attain a certain grade are sponsored by the institutions to pursue a career in piloting. They suggest that the students need to consent that they will serve the institution for a certain period of time before deciding whether to leave for another company or renew their contract with the current institution. To them, this is one way through which the students may get support to climb the financial hill which is associated with pilot training cost. Also, they claim that these students would get instant employment in companies which will pay them well. The company will reconsider having the money they used to sponsor the students back. For this reason, payments for the graduate may not be as bad as it is now. Another solution which is pinpointed by Wilson & Dace (2016) is the review of the legislation which makes the years of operations for a pilot career shorter and enhances early retirements. Currently, the average age of all the pilot in America is estimated to be nearly 45 years. In Africa, the age is estimated to be 42 years old. The legal retiring age for the pilots is 65 years old. It means that the field is full of middle-aged people. The retiring age should either be pushed forward or the younger people be encouraged to register as pilots. The next solution is to reduce the cumbersome and expensive procedure of hiring pilots in the U.S. and other countries in the world. This has been a factor which has discouraged many aspiring pilots in the world. It has also contributed to a limited number of pilots in the world in general.
Conclusion
In summary, pilot’s shortage has created a disaster in the aviation industry. According to the five article reviewed in the research document, it is apparent that an urgent solution is needed to curb the overwhelming impact of a pilot shortage in the aviation industry. Based on the result of this research, the causes of pilot’s shortage are majorly financial constraints. The inability of many aspiring pilots to climb the financial mountain which comes with flight training is one reason why there is less number of trained pilots. The shortage has led to delays in flight transport, cancellation of the flights and even rescheduling the busy schedules in these companies. The solution lies in training more pilots as well as reducing the strict registration and hiring of pilots in this industry. Based on the increased innovation and the rate of demand for the flight travel, the situation is predicted to worsen off unless an urgent solution is gotten.
References
Greubel, D., Macchiarella, N. D., Haugaard, L., Dee, M., Lane, S., Buyer, J., & Bechdolt, S. (2016). Panel 1: Pilot Supply & Industry Consequences Update.
Heshmati, A., & Kim, J. (2016). A Review of the Airline Industry. In Efficiency and Competitiveness of International Airlines (pp. 51-73). Springer, Singapore.
Wilson, N. D., & Daku, S. A. (2016). Industry in Motion: Pilot Study on Instructor and Management Perceptions of New Hire Pilot Technical and Professional Preparation. International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace , 3 (3), 11.
Zhu, Y., & Liu, Y. (2017). Questions and Countermeasures on Developing General Aviation Industry in China. In MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol. 100, p. 01011). EDP Sciences.
Harris, D. (2017, July). The Future Flight Deck. In International Conference on Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics (pp. 222-230). Springer, Cham.
