3,800 Pilots Could Be Added If Retirement Age Moved To 65

The commercial air travel industry has grown so much in the past five years, to the tune of eight percent or 683 million passengers a year in 2001 to 740 million in 2006, there are fears a pilot shortage in imminent.

The Federal Aviation Administration anticipates growth to continue to 1.2 billion passengers annually by 2020. According to the Atlanta Business Journal, US airlines anticipate hiring some 65,000 pilots by 2012 -- 12,000 this year alone.

There is also concern about the loss of qualified pilots that will be forced to retire at age 60.

"I think that between 2010 and 2020 the pilot shortage is really going to be exacerbated with those retirements," said Daniel Elwell, FAA assistant administrator.

"Studies (have shown) the population is healthier, older and what were [safety] concerns a long time ago really aren't concerns today," FAA Administrator Marion Blakey recently told The Washington Times.

The FAA is supposedly in the process of changing its retirement policy to allow one of a two-pilot crew fly to age 65 if the other is less than age 65, but there has been no indication of that process even having begun, as ANN has reported.

Reportedly, 3,800 pilots could be added to commercial aviation's roster if the retirement age were bumped to 65.

FMI: www.faa.gov