Company Predicts 460,000 New Pilots Needed By 2030

If industry forecasts are correct, there's a severe pilot shortage coming. Boeing says 460,000 new commercial pilots will be needed by the year 2030, at the same time the military is moving wholesale into unmanned vehicles, pinching off a major traditional source of new jet pilots. On Tuesday, a Boeing exec explained what he thinks will be needed to close the gap.

Speaking at the Asia Pacific Airline Training Symposium in Bangkok, Roei Ganzarski, chief customer officer, Boeing Flight Services, said the industry must focus on adopting newer methods of instruction that have proven successful in other fields. It's not just a problem with pilots - Boeing forecasts a need for tens-of-thousands of new instructors, and 650,000 new commercial airline maintenance technicians over the next two decades.

Ganzarski commented, "We must advance the training profession in order to attract and retain the passionate and competent talent needed to train the vast numbers of aviation personnel required. We need to train them in a way that is adaptable to a generation steeped in mobile and on-line technology.

"It should no longer be about an instructor's number of flying hours. The next wave of professional instructors should place greater emphasis on student aptitude to ensure students reach their fullest potential."

To meet the demand for new pilots, Boeing estimates that the training industry will need a minimum of 1,200 new pilot instructors every year for the next twenty years.

FMI: www.boeing.com