Training Providers Scramble To Meet Middle East’s Pilot Shortfall
According to a report by Boeing, the Middle East will need more than 37,000 pilots to fly the aircraft due to be delivered there over the next 20 years.
According to a recent report by Boeing, the Middle East will need more than 37,000 pilots to fly the aircraft due to be delivered there over the next 20 years. But the region faces a serious lack of adequate training facilities. “Pilot requirements for the Gulf region will grow at a faster rate than local pilots can be trained,” concluded Boeing in its latest pilot and technician forecast.
The industry is waking up to the challenge, but there are doubts as to whether it is ready for the kind of growth now being anticipated. “Everyone is saying the same thing,” Flight Safety International (FSI) executive vice president Eric Hinson told AIN. “There will definitely be a pilot shortage if the levels of available training can’t keep pace.”
