While some industries might be preparing for a downturn in fortunes, the same certainly cannot be said about aviation. For any budding pilots out there, it appears this is the chance to really get a foothold in the industry and reap the obvious rewards.
It would be fair to say that over recent years job openings haven’t been as prominent as one might hope – but all this is changing. In fact, industry experts believe that the aviation industry is about to experience its biggest surge in hiring pilots ever. That’s right – this is the peak time to be a pilot.
When one looks at the sources for such information, the outlook seems to be even more optimistic. There are only a handful of commercial airplane manufacturers in the world, with one of the main ones being Boeing. For years we’ve heard about how they have a backlog of orders and simply cannot keep up with supply.
Now, their very own experts believe that following huge orders, the industry will require over 466,000 commercial pilots by 2029. To break this down even further, this equates to around 23,000 pilots per year up until that date.
To make matters more enticing, the industry could struggle to hit such numbers. Already, shortages are being reported and for budding pilots this means one thing – competition amongst airlines is going to be fierce. In other words, any qualified pilots are going to be able to negotiate better than they ever have to before.
Why are so many more pilot jobs going to become available?
There are numerous reasons why a pilot shortage could be set to hit the country. Firstly, a lot of pilots are nearing the retirement age and suffice to say, this prompts a wealth of opportunities.
However, there are other reasons related to the economy that mean that the aviation industry is set to benefit tremendously. The industry is starting to see a massive surge in people traveling to Asia, with this obviously requiring more pilots to fill the long-haul flight posts.
Additionally, in the case of domestic flights, there’s another surge. With the economy improving, more travelers are starting to take to domestic flights and once again, this creates further demand for pilots.
We should make a note on some proposed law changes as well. Pilots are soon going to need longer rest periods, which again means that there is capacity for more professionals to step in.
How can budding pilots get started?
Taking the example of North Star Aviation Mankato MN, it takes four years to train as a pilot. This includes everything from flight training, to the theoretical aspects.
Suffice to say, aviation was historically quite difficult to break into many years ago. However, with specialist aviation degrees now readily available, it means that budding pilots have more opportunities to break into the industry than ever before.
Forgive us for the pun; but the sky’s the limit.