Boeing’s annual “Pilot and Technician Outlook,” which predicts the number of pilots and aviation technicians that will be needed in the next two decades, show there’s still a strong demand for “newly qualified” aviation personnel. However, the company’s predictions are lower for 2021–2040 than in the last two years.
The revised numbers are due to the “uneven global recovery” from the downturn caused by COVID-19, according to the annual outlook.
The outlook now predicts 612,000 new pilots and 626,000 new maintenance technicians will be needed to fly and maintain the global commercial fleet over the next 20 years.
That’s a 20% drop in the demand for pilots from the 2020 outlook, which called for 763,000 pilots, which was down 5% from the the 2019 projection of 804,000 pilot.
Meanwhile, the predicted demand for maintenance technicians fell 15% from the 739,000 technicians predicted in 2020, which was a 3.9% drop from the 2019 outlook that called for 769,000 technicians.
Meeting projected demands for pilots and aircraft mechanics “is wholly dependent on industry’s investment in a steady pipeline of newly qualified personnel to replace those who have left or will soon exit the industry through mandatory retirement, early retirement, recent layoffs and furloughs, and ongoing attrition,” the outlook notes.
“The global aviation industry will need to keep a sharp focus and engage in collective efforts to build a robust, diverse talent pipeline through more educational outreach and recruitment, development of new pathways to aviation careers, investment in early-career learning opportunities, and deployment and adoption of more efficient learning methods,” it continues.
“Opportunity for aspiring aviators will abound while operators will face stiff competition in recruiting and retaining top tier talent,” the outlook predicts.