Get your pilot's license!

After a nearly four-year drought of openings, the airline industry is on the brink of what’s predicted to be the biggest hiring surge of pilots in history. Boeing has forecast a need for 466,650 more commercial pilots by 2029 – an average of 23,300 new pilots a year. Nearly 40% of the openings will be needed to meet the soaring travel market in the Asia-Pacific region, but more than 97,000 will be in North America, predicts Boeing. A shortage of pilots is already being seen in some countries. The hiring surge is being fueled by rapid growth of travel to Asia, a wave of mandatory pilot retirements in the U.S. (federal law requires mandatory retirement age of 65 for pilots), flight rule changes that increase the time pilots must train, rest and work, and a rebounding-increase in air travel in the U.S. There is also competition from corporations and freight moving firms. The airline industry is facing the questions of where are the new plots going to come from and how are they going to finance them? Beginning pilots make around $22,000 per year after incurring about $100,000 in training and education costs, while the most senior pilots at major airlines earn more than $186,000 annually. (usatoday.com, June 21, 2011)