Airline growth in Asia plus poor wages add up to a looming pilot shortage

Source: Associated Press Author: Joan Lowy An industry forecast that nearly half a million new airline pilots will be needed worldwide over the next 20 years as airlines expand their fleets has raised safety concerns that airlines will hire lower caliber pilots as they struggle to fill slots. Boeing, one of the world's largest makers of commercial jetliners, forecasts about 465,000 new pilots will be needed worldwide between now and 2031 as global economies expand and airlines take deliveries of tens of thousands of new commercial jetliners. The forecast includes 69,000 new pilots in the North America, mostly in the U.S. The greatest growth will be in the Asia-Pacific region, where an estimated 185,600 new pilots will be needed. Likewise, Boeing predicts 601,000 new aircraft maintenance technicians will be needed over the same period, with greatest demand — 243,500 technicians — in the Asia-Pacific region. An estimated 92,500 new technicians will North America. The rising global demand for airline pilots has raised concern among industry and government officials that there will be a global an