Worldwide pilot shortage looms

Atlanta: The U.S. airline industry hopes to hire 12,000 pilots this year and 65,000 by 2012 amid a growing shortage that threatens to disrupt passenger service.
But the recruiting job is made harder by a slew of retirements, a lack of new recruits and competition from overseas carriers and the U.S. military, The Washington Times reported.
Just as the domestic demand for experienced pilots is rising, foreign airlines are poaching our pilots, Aviation Information Resources Inc. President Kit Darby told the newspaper. And they are doing a pretty good job.
Some Indian companies, for instance, are luring U.S. pilots by offering them a tax-free salary, Darby said.
A worldwide pilot shortage is looming, assistant Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Daniel Elwell said. Japan can’t get pilots fast enough. (Neither can) carriers in the Middle East. So they are hiring American pilots, Elwell said to the Times.
Commercial air travel has grown 8 percent in the past five years, to 740 million passengers in 2006 from 683 million in 2001. The FAA expects the number to jump to 1.2 billion passengers by 2020.
To buy time for the U.S. industry, the FAA is working to change its mandatory age-60 retirement policy to permit one of two pilots in a crew to fly up to the age of 65, the Times said.
20/08/07 United Press International/ImediNews, Georgia, US