Aviation Information Resources, Inc. (AIR, Inc.), reported more than 13,000 pilots were hired in 2007 and forecast another 10,650 will be hired this year.
“Airline pilot hiring is near an all-time high,” said Kit Darby, president. “The last time we saw numbers like this was in 2000 when 19,027 new pilot jobs were created that year. The increase in pilot hiring is due primarily to the following demands on the airlines – peak age-60 retirements were reached in 2007, increased flying schedules, international expansion, the demand for corporate, Fractional, and VLJ pilots and the demand for US pilots overseas.”
Many airlines are scrambling to add pilots and many smaller airlines are lowering their minimum fight-hour requirements, said AIR, which added smaller companies are considering pilots with as little as 250 hours total time and 25 hour of multi-engine experience, while others are offering signing bonuses as large as $5,000 and employee referral bonuses as high as $1,000. Related Story
The National airline sector, which includes larger regional operations, was untouchable, said Darby, who added for the tenth year straight this segmentled in pilot hiring, adding 6,831 jobs and doubling their numbers from 2006. They were followed by the Majors with 2,900 and the Non-Jet Operators with 1,184. As hiring rose, furloughed numbers declined by more than half, from 6,608 in January to 3,094 in December.
“The straight math trend for the last three years predicts 14,279 new pilot positions for 2008, which could go higher depending on the domestic and international economies, and three other main forces - pilot retirement, airline growth and foreign demand for U.S. pilots.,” said Darby.
Pilot retirement at the majors will decrease over the next five years as existing pilots start working until age 65, reducing total retirements over the next five years by about 5,000 to 10,000 or about 1,000 to 2,000 pilots per year.
Major passenger and freight airlines currently have over 4,263 jets, and their orders total 553 with options for an additional 1,656. Roughly 40 percent of these new aircraft will replace existing jets; the rest are for growth and will require additional pilots. Fleet plans are in a state of flux as passenger airlines try to align themselves with current market conditions. Significant increases in aircraft utilization could create a demand for additional pilots or recalls without new aircraft deliveries.