Boeing anticipates massive global demand for pilots – here’s how much a licence costs in South Africa
Boeing has released its 2018 Pilot & Technician Outlook, projecting demand for 790,000 pilots over the next 20 years.
This represents double the current workforce and the most significant demand in the outlook’s nine-year history.
The demand is being driven by an anticipated doubling of the global commercial airplane fleet as well as record-high air travel demand and a tightening labor supply, Boeing said.
“Despite strong global air traffic growth, the aviation industry continues to face a pilot labor supply challenge, raising concern about the existence of a global pilot shortage in the near-term,” said Keith Cooper, vice president of Training & Professional Services at Boeing.
“An emphasis on developing the next generation of pilots is key to help mitigate this,” he said.
“With a network of training campuses and relationships with flight schools around the globe, Boeing partners with customers, governments and educational institutions to help ensure the market is ready to meet this significant pilot demand.”
Despite the commercial pilot demand forecast holding nearly steady, maintenance technician demand decreased slightly from 648,000 to 622,000, primarily due to longer maintenance intervals for new 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, due to changes in fleet mix, regulatory requirements, denser seat configurations and multi-cabin configurations that offer more personalized service. In addition, 32,000 new cabin crew will be required to support business aviation.
South Africa
Despite recent reports of SAA looking to ‘rent’ out is pilots, industry experts speaking to BusinessTech said that that there is a major dearth of pilots in South Africa and around the world.
This was highlighted in March when Emirates underwent a major roadshow to recruit experienced and technically proficient commercial pilots in South Africa to fly its growing network of international routes.
As pilots are promoted based on a seniority system income-levels can differ greatly, with the average commercial pilot earning R368,033, according to Payscale.
However, this can rise to as much as R1.2 million in cases where pilots have more than 20 years experience, Payscale’s data showed.
Licence costs
In April, BusinessTech spoke to Johannesburg-based flight school U-Fly about the current cost to obtain a private pilots licence, as well as the additional requirements for night flying and a commercial licence.
U-Fly’s Chanel Minaar explained that before obtaining a Private Pilot Licence (PPL), one first needs to obtain a Student Pilot Licence (SPL) which it estimated would cost around R100,000, and typically takes between 6 to 12 months to complete.
However, a Commercial or Multi-Engine Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) is substantially more expensive with hour building, instrument flight rating, and multi-engine class rating totalling close to R260,000.
Minaar added that the training duration for a CPL is typically 12 to 18 months, depending on completion of exams.
You can find a complete cost breakdown here.
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