Demand for pilots continues to rise in latest Boeing forecast

The forecast, which focuses on projected employment trends over the next 20 years, said air carriers will need to hire almost 2.4 million professionals to keep up with the industry’s expected growth.

Boeing said commercial aviation will need 674,000 new pilots through 2043, a 3.9-percent increase compared with totals in last year’s forecast. The industry will also require about 716,000 new technicians, an increase of 3.8 percent, while rising travel demand will drive the need for 980,000 new cabin crewmembers, up 4.5 percent from last year.

“Driven by aviation traffic trending above pre-pandemic levels, personnel attrition and commercial fleet growth, the demand for aviation personnel continues to rise," said Chris Broom, vice president of commercial training solutions for Boeing Global Services. “Our offerings are rooted in competency-based training and assessment programs to help ensure high quality aviation training starting in flight schools and in commercial operations while helping enhance aviation safety through immersive and virtual training solutions.”

The report released during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Wisconsin projects that Eurasia, China, and North America will drive demand for more than half of expected new hires while staffing demand is projected to more than triple in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa over the next 20 years.

Boeing’s forecast indicated that the single-aisle aircraft fleet will account for most of the demand for personnel, with the exception of Africa and the Middle East, where widebody aircraft drive demand. Two-thirds of the new personnel are expected to replace employees lost to attrition while one-third will support the growing commercial fleet.