I frequently check the news stories on the Aero-News Network because they are written from an aviation perspective. One of the more interesting stories I just read was about a pilot shortage that is fairly eminent.
Here I am at the very beginning of this flying journey, and already I’m hearing news that pilots are going to be in great demand soon. Honestly, it doesn’t sway me one way or another, and I couldn’t say if I’ll ever make a career out of flying. Right now it’s just manifesting itself as a hobby.
An interesting takeaway from the video clip of Kit Darby’s speech was a brief comment on freight carriers vs. passenger airlines. The freighters simply pass along the incurred expenses of labor/fuel/equipment to the customers. They are doing fine, and in fact posting profitable returns these past few quarters. The passenger airlines are struggling.
I’m a little puzzled what the business model behind the passenger airlines is. No doubt there are a million variables in the equation, but it would seem that something needs to change soon. As Kit points out, the average plane is in service 8 hours and change per day. In the future, to remain competitive, that number will have to significantly increase.
Translation, something like 80 thousand new pilots will be needed by 2025.
Note to self: Do as much personal air travel as possible before 2025. I’m not sure there will be 80 thousand pilots by then…