2023-05-07 11:56:06
Across the Atlantic, pilots and flight engineers are 95.7% white and 90.8% male, according to official data.
Faced with a limited number of pilots at a time when air traffic is taking off once more in the United States, companies and unions agree on a long-neglected aspect: the need for increased diversity in the cockpit. In the country, pilots and flight engineers are 95.7% white and 90.8% male, according to official data.
Regional Airlines Association (RAA) President Faye Malarkey Black lambasted in a recent congressional hearing the “very limited diversity” at the controls of planes while the president of the Air Line Pilots Association ( ALPA), Jason Ambrosi, called for change in the face of the glaring lack of women and people from minorities among his counterparts.
There will be a shortage of 17,000 pilots in 2032 in North America
Beyond the need to increase representativeness at work, attracting people with more varied profiles might allow companies to replace the many pilots who chose to take advantage of the voluntary departure plans put in place when traffic collapsed in 2020.
Demand for airline tickets has since rebounded, but airlines can no longer rely on one of their main sources of recruitment: the military. In 2000, half of the pilots of the largest airlines were ex-military. Since the army has acquired many remote-controlled devices, this proportion has fallen to 15%. Three quarters of the pilots of national companies now come from regional companies, estimates the firm Oliver Wyman. According to their estimates, there will be a shortage of 17,000 pilots in 2032 in North America. Previous estimates were even more alarmist.
But in the meantime, companies have set up training programs, such as United Airlines, which wants at least half of the recruits to its Aviation Academy to be women or people from minorities. Companies have also eliminated lines serving small airports, thereby reducing the need for pilots, notes Geoff Murray of the firm Oliver Wyman.
European companies are not in the same situation thanks to the measures put in place by governments during the pandemic, which made it possible not to push pilots to leave. But they should also face recruitment problems within three years given the rebound in international air traffic, estimates Geoff Murray.
Awareness campaigns and establishment of scholarships
The pilot shortage is expected to worsen due to “a coming tsunami of retirements”, RAA President Faye Malarkey Black said at the hearing. His solution: raise the mandatory retirement age for pilots from 65 to 67. She also called for a review of the rules requiring pilots to have flown at least 1,500 hours before being able to take control of an airliner, stressing that they were now largely assisted by piloting aids.
On these solutions, the unions do not agree. They pose risks, noted Jason Ambrosi of ALPA, highlighting in particular the fact of the drastic reduction in fatal accidents since the minimum threshold for flight hours went from 250 to 1,500 in 2010.
“Responding to the temporary problems faced by the industry post-Covid with permanent changes to pilot training and qualification requirements is misguided and dangerous,” he said.
For him, the impact of retirements is overestimated. And companies should not blame the lack of pilots for the closure of regional lines, taken because they are not profitable enough, he argued.
Representatives of airlines and pilots agree, however, that the cost of pilot training, which can exceed $100,000, excludes many candidates from diverse backgrounds, with more limited resources. A government working group has recommended increasing awareness campaigns for aviation careers and setting up dedicated scholarships. Parliamentarians are expected to consider these proposals when debating the upcoming funding bill for the agency overseeing aviation, the FAA.
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