STOP PRESS – AUGUST UPLINK 

BOEING FORECASTS THE NEED FOR ALMOST 800,000 PILOTS OVER NEXT 20 YEARS

Boeing has just released its 2018 Pilot & Technician Outlook, forecasting 790,000 new civil aviation pilots, 754,000 new maintenance technicians, and 890,000 new cabin crew will be needed to fly and maintain the world fleet over the next 20 years.

These projections cover the global commercial aviation, business aviation, and civil helicopter industries.

Boeing attributes this need to a mix of fleet growth, retirements, and attrition.

The aviation industry giant said that meeting this need will require “proactive planning and collaboration within the global aviation industry".

“As several hundred thousand pilots and technicians reach retirement age over the next decade, educational outreach and career pathway programs will be essential to inspiring and recruiting the next generation of personnel,” the Outlook report notes. 

“The aviation industry will need to adopt innovative training solutions to enable optimum learning and knowledge retention. Immersive technologies, adaptive learning, schedule flexibility, and new teaching methods will be needed to effectively meet a wide range of learning styles.

“The growing diversity and mobility of aviation personnel will also require instructors to have cross-cultural, cross-generational, and multilingual skills to engage with tomorrow's workforce,” the company said.