An Airborne Crisis on Two Fronts
This shortage is being seen in both the airline and the cargo industries. With such a small pool of applicants to choose from, these two sectors are battling to get the most qualified available candidates. Many pilots are increasingly being wooed to get behind the controls of passenger planes over cargo flights—frankly, it’s tough to compete with jobs perks like fixed schedules and free flights for your family across the world.
This is no anecdotal pilot shortage, either—the same problems are found on a global scale, with Boeing estimating an incredible shortage of 790,000 or more pilots across the world over the next two decades. In the shorter term, the domestic industry can expect more than 8,000 unfilled vacancies per year by 2020, and five years later that number could be higher than 12,000 pilot-less flights in need of help. This spells trouble for your supply chain because even if you don’t personally rely on flight to get items delivered, chances are at least one of your key suppliers does.
