Aviation is an industry that hires, trains and supports some of the brightest, most skilled and dedicated people working today. It has to, in order to ensure that aircraft meet all safety requirements and flight departments continue to operate efficiently and effectively. That’s why there’s growing concern about the state of the aviation talent pool.
The 2019 Boeing Pilot & Technician Outlook, which covers personnel demand in the business aviation, commercial aviation and civil helicopter industries, states that “804,000 new civil aviation pilots, 769,000 new maintenance technicians, and 914,000 new cabin crew will be needed to fly and maintain the world fleet over the next 20 years.”1 Unfortunately, companies that have historically had an ample supply of candidates for open positions are now seeing the pipeline start to dwindle. And this challenge doesn’t just involve pilots, although their numbers are dropping as well. The talent shortage affects flight crews, ground crews, scheduling and operations teams, and the vendors that support aviation.
