Jobs alert: 500,000 pilots wanted… Emirates, flydubai, Etihad, Qatar Airways

The Mideast aviation sector will imminently face a manpower shortage say experts, as 450,000 jobs open up with Emirates, Etihad Airways, flydubai and Qatar Airways spearheading an aggressive expansion drive as the order book at the Dubai Airshow crosses $196 billion.

The Gulf Aviation Training Event (GATE), running on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow’s, began at Dubai World Central under the theme ‘Breaking Paradigms: Training the Gulf’s New Generation of Aviators’ and quickly heard how crisis loomed over the sector.

Urgent action is needed to resolve the lack of qualified, commercial aviation pilots, delegates at the Dubai Airshow, said experts.

Captain Ed Davidson, GATE Summit Director and former Gulf-based Emirates Airline executive, said: “We are running out of the capabilities to fix this issue before we are in a dire situation.

“If we look at the latest numbers – following on from the announcements by Etihad, flydubai and Emirates Airline yesterday regarding buying hundreds of aircraft, and opening new routes, we face an extreme challenge,” he said.

“We need to find 460,000 pilots over the next 20 years, but the biggest number of people ever recruited into the industry annually was just 14,000.”

Captain Ed Davidson identified three barriers to recruitment: where to find the manpower; the high cost of training a pilot – $100,000 – and how to train pilots so they are comfortable with automation and technology.

Two organisations present at the GATE summit - CTC Aviation and Emirates Airline - have long identified the increased demand for pilots - and the subsequent industry repercussions – so have set about developing solutions.

Emirates is in the final stages of completing a Cadet Pilot Academy at the new Al Maktoum World Central Airport, Jebel Ali, Dubai, which is expected to help address the need for at least 40,000 pilots in the region over the next two decades.

The Dh500 million Emirates Flight Academy is designed to accommodate up to 400 students at a time.

It will initially serve as the dedicated training centre for Emirates’ National Cadet Pilot Programme, and gradually expand its cadet intake to include ab-initio pilots from other carriers.

Captain Alan Stealey, Executive Vice-President, Flight Operations for Emirates said: “The new Emirates Pilot Academy is in the heart of the Gulf’s expansion.

“Emirates is committed to producing a growing portion of our pilot need internally as we recognise that the increasingly competitive pilot marketplace over the next ten years is significantly under-supplied.”

CTC Aviation Group Limited, one of the world’s largest providers of Cadet Pilots to the air transport industry, is strongly focused on future pilot recruitment and training; with plans to open new training facilities in the near future.

Captain Rob Clarke, CEO, CTC Aviation, said: “We are seeing increasing demand for cadets joining our hugely popular CTC Wings training programme.

“With graduates being placed directly onto jet equipment with our partner airlines we are seeing a year-on-year growth which requires us to double our capacity over the next few years.”

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian investment company Infinity unveiled plans at the Dubai Airshow, to establish a new $267m Aviation Academy in Riyadh.

The academy will be designed by FlightSafety International, including state-of-the-art full flight simulators and other advanced technology training devices.

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