News
Boeing adds heli data to Outlook
July 24, 2018 By Helicopters Staff
Boeing released its 2018 Pilot & Technician Outlook, projecting demand for 790,000 pilots over the next 20 years. This represents double the current workforce, explains the company, and what it describes as the most significant demand in the report’s nine-year history.{gallery}7679{/gallery}
Boeing explains this demand is being driven by an anticipated doubling of the global commercial airplane fleet (as outlined in Boeing’s recent Commercial Market Outlook), record-high air travel demand, and tightening labour supply. This year’s 2018 Pilot & Technician Outlook also includes data from the business aviation and civil helicopter sectors for the first time.
“Despite strong global air traffic growth, the aviation industry continues to face a pilot labour supply challenge, raising concern about the existence of a global pilot shortage in the near-term,” said Keith Cooper, vice president of training and professional services, Boeing Global Services. “An emphasis on developing the next generation of pilots is key to help mitigate this.”
Despite the commercial pilot demand forecast holding nearly steady, Boeing explains maintenance technician demand decreased slightly from 648,000 to 622,000. The company says this is primarily due to longer maintenance intervals for newer aircraft. Collectively, the business aviation and civil helicopter sectors will demand an additional 155,000 pilots and 132,000 technicians.
Demand for commercial cabin crew increased slightly from 839,000 to 858,000, according to Boeing, due to changes in fleet mix, regulatory requirements, denser seat configurations and multi-cabin configurations. In addition, 32,000 new cabin crew will be required to support business aviation.
