A shortage of pilots is limiting the number of flights that airlines can operate, which can cause problems during peak travel periods.
The United States and Canada have been experiencing pilot shortages for several years, however, the industry made things worse by encouraging pilots to take early retirement in 2020 during the pandemic.
ABC News reports that Helane Becker, an analyst for Cowen who has tracked the issue closely, estimates that 10,000 pilots have left the field since then.
Despite the shortage today, airlines have been in a hiring frenzy that is likely to continue for several years as the carriers replace pilots who reach the federal mandatory retirement age of 65.
The federal government estimates that there will be about 18,000 openings per year for airline and commercial pilots this decade, with many of those replacing retirees. However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued on average only half that number of pilot licenses from 2017 through 2021.
How bad is the shortage? The Associated Press quotes the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, who estimates that despite efforts to close the gap, airlines in North America will face a shortage of nearly 30,000 pilots by 2032.
The number of commercial pilot licenses issued in Canada has also fallen by more than 80 percent since 2019.
“There’s … not enough people starting up at the bottom of the scale to get people interested in flying,” John Gradek, a lecturer in aviation management at McGill University in Montreal, told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.
Gradek added, “They laid off thousands of pilots across the industry and now, with the start of a number of new carriers in the Canadian marketplace and growth of existing carriers, guess what we’re short of, and it’s going to be a tough summer to try to find pilots in Canada.”
Overall, there is some cause for hope. Last year, the FAA issued 9,588 airline-transport licenses — the type needed to fly for an airline. That topped even the recent peak of 9,520 in 2016.
And in Canada, Tim Perry, the president of the Canadian division of the Air Line Pilots Association, said that airlines need to compensate pilots appropriately.
“Attracting pilots is the first step and retaining them is the second step and airlines have a responsibility to do both in order to deliver on the services that they market.”
