Pilot Shortage – Term Paper

In the recent past, there has been a significant drop in the number of commercial pilots. Such a crisis affects various aspects of a country’s economy since air transport remains the fastest means of transportation and its importance cannot be overlooked. Therefore, to avert such a crisis, Boeing suggested an international collaboration including three parties namely: government, industry, and academia in an attempt to avoid shortages of these outstanding professionals. Failure to address this issue could have grave consequences for the developing markets.

The area that was hard hit by this crisis is the Asia-Pacific that required at least 41% new staff to run smoothly. The company predicts that, with the current trends, approximately 533,000 pilots, backed up by 584,000 maintenance personnel will be required to sustain the staff minimum requirement. According to Sherry Carbary, who is the Vice President of Boeing, there is a need for collaboration and participation of government and regulators to discuss the way forward. He insists that the flight company cannot adequately handle the problem and that there is the need for cooperation. It is for that reason he calls upon all shareholders to assume their roles in averting this shortage in pilots and avoid future shortages.

However, Boeing promises to do its best in service delivery and ensure that it handles this problem as best as it could by doing what it can. If their best is not sufficient, the government and regulators can always offer a helping hand. In the end, everyone stands to benefit when this problem is solved.