Regional air services suffering from pilot shortage

by Rebecca Bradshaw

April 30, 2008

A GLOBAL pilot shortage is crippling Australia’s general aviation industry, as services to some remote regional communities are being withdrawn.

Robin Anderson of Qantas subsidiary, Eastern Airlines, says crew shortages are driving the reduction in frequency of regional flights.

“Crew shortages mean we do not have enough staff to maintain services, and in some cases we have to cancel regional flights outright,” Captain Anderson says.

Mick Vaughan, technical consultant at the Australian Federation of Air Pilots, believes the pilot shortage is a result of multiple factors.

“As a career choice, being a pilot means hard shift work and it is difficult to maintain harmonious home relationships,” explains Mr Vaughan. “Also, the cost of training for young people wanting to fly is astronomical.”

Young pilots are expected to fork out close to $100,000 up-front for a commercial pilot licence, with no government financial support.

Pilots who are able to fund their training often begin their careers in the general aviation industry or regional airlines only to be recruited by commercial airlines such as Qantas and Virgin.

“It is my understanding that the big commercial airlines are recruiting aggressively at the moment, often ‘creaming-off’ the talent needed in general aviation by small operators,” Mr Vaughan says.

Captain Anderson agrees, saying first officers in regional airlines do not stay in the industry long enough to gain the skills necessary to be promoted to captain.

“There is a cycle in regional airlines at the moment where first officers are employed and build up their hours to become a competent pilot,” Captain Anderson says. “They are then recruited by Virgin or Jetstar, build up their jet experience, and then the big salaries of commercial airlines such as Emirates come calling.”

Captain Anderson expects the trend to continue next year, when he expects crew shortages in regional airlines will result in smaller country towns losing their air services.