Needs to be filled

According to the Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC), air transport accounts for more than 600 companies nationally. It is subdivided into various sectors including the hiring of air taxis, short runs, wide-body aircraft, the corporate transport industry, piloting schools and aerial work (e.g. helicopter transport for mineral exploration).

Like aerospace, air transport suffered from the economic crisis of 2008–2009. While recovery is on the horizon, John McKenna, ATAC President and CEO, fears a perverse effect in the longer term as regards the availability of labour needed in order to grow. “We already knew that we were heading towards a pilot shortage, but this is likely to get worse. In light of current conditions—with no demand for pilots—young people have gone into other fields. By 2015, we will be feeling the effects of this desertion in a big way,” he says.

Mr. McKenna feels that the problem is two-fold. “The sector is having a lot of difficulty finding experienced pilots with more than 1,000 or 1,200 hours flight time. At the same time, new graduate pilots have a tough time acquiring experience and flight time, since they can’t find jobs because demand is less than normal as a result of the recession,” he deplores.
It’s a spiral we will have to climb out off sooner or later, since forecasts indicate a demand for 200,000 pilots worldwide by 2020—a huge number.