The commercial aviation industry remains to be resilient amidst the covid-19 pandemic which is the worst crisis in history. The commercial aviation sector has always recovered from many crisis like 9/11, Asian Financial crisis, oil crisis, the Gulf-War, MERS-CoV, and the SARS crisis. Thus, many remain optimistic that the commercial aviation industry will make a recovery after this. Also, The global aviation industry will need 763,000 new pilots in 20 years.
A report from Boeing shows an optimistic outlook from 2020 to 2039. Aside from 763,000 new pilots, the world will need 903,000 new flight attendants, and 739 aircraft technicians.
Forecast also shows how the airline industry will recover from the covid-19 pandemic
According to Boeing, while the current industry downturn, driven by COVID-19, has resulted in a temporary oversupply of qualified personnel, the long-term need remains robust. In recent decades, aviation has experienced external forces that have affected demand, such as 9/11, SARS and the Great Financial Crisis. Recovery has generally followed several years later, as the fundamentals driving passenger and air traffic demand remain strong.
New pilot demand in the Asia-Pacific and South East Asia region
The Asia-Pacific region takes the largest chunk of the pie with a demand of 226,000 new pilots, 237,000 technicians, and 336,000 cabin crew in the next 20 years. South East Asia ranks next to China with a projected demand for 45,000 new pilots. The region is also forecasted to take in deliveries of 4,400 new aircraft until 2039.
As the industry positions itself for recovery, adequate qualified pilot supply remains an important consideration as a large contingent of the workforce approaches mandatory retirement age. Positions left vacant because of retirements will need to be filled, which is likely to coincide with industry recovery, fleet growth and efforts by other operators to recruit new pilots for similar purposes.
Aircraft technicians will also be needed
As airlines prepare to get parked aircraft flying again, Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) demand will definitely be on the rise again. Based on the forecast, 237,000 technicians will be needed in the Asia-Pacific region where 55,000 belong to South East Asia. The biggest market for technicians will be China which is at 121,000. The forecast of aircraft deliveries to the Asia-Pacific region is at 17,485.
As for flight attendants, a total of 874,000 will be needed by the commercial aviation industry worldwide. A more comprehensive report on the flight attendants may be read here.
Since the aviation industry will definitely need new pilots in the future, are you going to be one of them?
