“Recruiting qualified, experienced and motivated aviators worldwide for the US “

With the growing demand for pilots worldwide, the US market is experiencing a shortage of qualified crew members. This shortage will only get worst in the coming years. It is expected that by 2025 airlines and aircraft operators will have to “declare an emergency” in regards to their pilot staffing levels.

Between 2021 and 2025 the top 6 US airlines will retire more than ten thousand pilots. This is just the “tip of the iceberg”.

As of late 2021, global airlines were only flying at about 75% of pre-Covid capacity. But by 2025, after global demand in domestic and international travel expands beyond 2019 levels, it is expected a worldwide short fall of at least 40,000 commercial pilots — almost 10% of the total workforce. This gap, which will begin to be felt as early as next year, is based on a modest recovery scenario. If the airline industry experience a more rapid recovery, that shortage could reach 50,000.

In the United States, the shortage of pilots reflects an aging workforce approaching the mandatory pilot retirement age of 65. In addition to an aging workforce, there are fewer pilots to recruit from the military. In the 1980s, 60 % of commercial pilots were ex-military; today, only 30% are recruited from the military.

Undoubtedly, the US market is the most attractive in the world, with very competitive salaries, excellent work rules, conditions and fast career progression.

Like many airlines in the Middle East and Asia that have been recruiting pilots from all corners of the world for many years, it is inevitable that US carriers will need to look beyond US borders to fill some of theirs open cockpit seats in the very near future.

This is where we, at FlexPilots, can bring our experience and help bridge the gap between demand for pilots and supply of qualified aviators from around the world.