Cost of training pilots sees shortage begin to bite

Student loans do not cover the costs of getting through to a commercial pilots' licence. Photo / 123rf

A shortage in the supply of pilots is worsening because of the cost of training and worldwide demand.

New Zealand Airline Pilots' Association president Tim Robinson said student loans covered only two-thirds of the cost of training for a commercial pilot licence and while not at crisis point, the shortage of pilots was starting to bite

"There is a pilot shortage in New Zealand and we believe the issue is only going to get worse in the next few years - there's a lack of trained pilots going through the system to go on to employment," Robinson said.

It costs between $100,000 and $120,000 to get right through to a commercial pilots' licence, which is the minimum before going into an airline.

Student loans cover $70,000 of that.

The association, which is holding its annual meeting in Christchurch this week, is at odds with airlines in New Zealand over the impact on flights.

"They've had a number of cancellations through rostering of pilots. They say the cancellations have been more through operations issues, weather and airports but the pilot shortage is starting to move through the system and we're only going to start to see it increase in the next few years," said Robinson.

Jetstar said pilots were certainly in high demand but the airline had the numbers needed.

"While there is high demand for pilots worldwide, we currently have around 900 pilots across New Zealand and Australia, which adequately meets our flying requirements," said a spokesman.

Air New Zealand also said it had no shortage of regional pilots or cabin crew and attracted applicants from New Zealand as well as offshore.

"We aim to operate all services as scheduled, however, sometimes cancellations are unavoidable. There are a number of reasons a flight may be need to be cancelled, such as weather - which is the most common cause of disruption on our regional network, engineering issues or due to crew sickness," said a spokeswoman.

Robinson said the shortage was exacerbated by other airlines coming to New Zealand to recruit pilots. Emirates had run open days, the Qantas Group had recruited here and China Southern Airlines was aggressively looking for Kiwi flight crew.

John Nicholson, the chief executive of Aviation New Zealand, said that five years ago the country produced 241 graduates with commercial pilots' licences. Last year there were only 120.
"I think the mystique has gone out of flying and people going into flying are having to pay too much money to train. Then there's the uncertainty - you can't guarantee where the first job is."

According to Boeing and Airbus, the Asia-Pacific region is predicted to need between 232,000 and 248,000 new pilots, and between 217,700 and 268,000 new engineers in commercial aviation, in the next 20 years.

Boeing predicts China will need 6810 new aircraft in the next 20 years and 2800-3000 new pilots per year, but trains fewer than half that number.