AIRLINE DEMANDS ARE SQUEEZING THE SUPPLY OF BUSINESS AVIATION PILOTS

The ability of airlines to attract pilots away from business aviation with lucrative contracts continues to have a deleterious effect on corporate flight department rosters. At the same time, industry experts agree the costs of pilot training remain a serious impediment to addressing the supply shortage, but clearly, this is a good time to be a pilot.

"Whether it is business aviation or airlines, the shortage of pilots has created challenges for the operators and opportunities for the pilots," said David Cox, academy director for L3Harris Flight Academy in Sanford, Florida. "It is really a very competitive landscape right now where you have the airlines and the corporate operators competing with each other. Good jobs that pay well tend to be able to attract the right type of people. It is also a little bit of a lifestyle choice."

Today's debate over the shortage of pilots is not the first time the issue has come up. In 2012, the FAA said a looming dearth of pilots could be 'painful' and that the then-new flight, duty and rest rules would create a need for more pilots and could drive up airline staffing demands. This ultimately would impact the Part 135 charter segment vying for the same pilots.

In a 2018 hearing of the US House Small Business Committee, an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University official said that 97 percent of the United Stats business aviation community were small- to midsize businesses and other entities such as nonprofits. "Without a source of pilots, maintenance technicians, flight attendants, schedulers / dispatchers and trained support personnel, the economic engine of business aviation will be significantly impacted," he warned.