An International Pilot Shortage

I would like to discuss a topic mentioned by Mary, a fellow student, in one of her blogs. With our world becoming more and more globalized, the demand for air travel is increasing at its highest rate ever. This demand is creating jobs, but so many that the current supply of pilots isn't nearly enough.

According to Mary's post, by 2026 there will be a pilot shortage of 15,000, and according to a CNN post, 609,000  more aircraft maintenance workers and 38,000 new airliners will be needed by 2034 in order to meet our growing demand for air travel (Harrison, 2015). Many say the lifestyles of pilots must improve to help improve this pilot shortage.

I grew up my whole life surrounded by aviation. My grandfather was a pilot and had several airplanes while I was growing up. Since the age of 14, I have been flying, receiving my pilots license at 17. While I once thought being a commercial pilot was my future career, other pilots I know soon talked me out of it, claiming the pay is nothing compared to the lifestyle you live. That was six years ago.

Like Mary stated, airlines are creating more benefits, increasing pay and helping pilots maintain their license much more easily in order to help ease this shortage. This is becoming  a very common trend in the aviation work place. A friend of mine flies regional for Delta and he claims his salary has already doubled after flying for only two years. With these changes,  more people are finally wanting to get into flying. Had these changes came six years ago, I could have been sitting in flight school instead of struggling through finance courses.

Harrison, Virginia ( July 2015). The world needs more pilots: 28,000 new jobs a year. CNN Money. 
         Retrieved from: http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/21/news/companies/boeing-pilots-demand/