David Learmount/BARCELONA
Lack of interest in flying as a career is precipitating a growing airline pilot shortage, according to a study conducted by Crossair and Swiss professional pilot training school Horizon.
The study concludes that "the image of the pilot profession has suffered" and that "the job description of being a pilot has changed". Meanwhile, a Boeing study predicts a world pilot supply shortfall by about 2005, becoming serious from 2008.
Speaking at Flight International's Crew Management conference in Barcelona, Spain, 17-18 April, Crossair's flight safety and security officer Matthias Schmid says that already his airline "cannot respond to market demand without using expatriate pilots on short-term contracts". Against a need this year for 334 new Swiss pilots, only 240 have qualified.
It is not only pilots which represent a recruitment problem, Crossair says, but "all aviation professionals", including operations controllers and engineers.
In the USA, Southwest Airlines' chief pilot Ken Gile does not expect an imminent pilot shortage for the majors, but concedes that regional carriers will be taking on pilots with ever lower levels of experience - 500h compared with the traditional 1,500h, he predicts. Gile also concedes that the problem of pilot training instructors being poached by airlines could threaten pilot supply in the future.
CityJet's general manager human resources Geoffrey White predicts airlines will turn more to aircrew leasing, but the leasing companies will have to offer a more comprehensive service. Air Malta's chief pilot Norman D'Amato suggests airlines should look at ways of pooling pilots using specialist flight operations service providers.
A review carried out for Crossair by Horizon in 1998 showed that potential pilot candidates constituted 0.5-0.8% of all Swiss students. Candidates were put off pilot careers, however, by the non-standard working hours and the potentially disruptive effect on family life - especially when careers in new areas such as information technology beckon. Horizon found that only 8% of those that would consider a pilot career were prepared to invest the massive financial outlay in training.
Crossair proposes as short-term solutions exhaustive pre-selection testing, followed by guaranteed work contracts, and provision of security for student training bank loans.
Source: Flight International
