Anyone who has looked into flight training will have heard about the pilot shortage. In my opinion (and many others) this quite simply does not exist. How can it?
Here in the UK the big schools are churning out qualified pilots at a very steady rate, not to mention the modular guys who are also qualifying every year. There has and there will always be more than enough pilots to fly the aircraft. If there wasn’t the airlines would be doing huge cadet recruitment in massive numbers, something that they are not.
You also need to take in to account all the pilots who do not have a job, this includes newly qualified and experienced pilots. These guys and girls are all qualified to fly so if there was a shortage why would they be unemployed? Pilot jobs are oversubscribed and competition is high.
The big training schools are businesses, this is what people need to remember. They are looking to take £100,000+ from you. The idea of a pilot shortage is something that is good for them to sell their training. What cadet wants to hear “We will train you, but to be honest, you might never fly an aircraft due to their being too many pilots?” Nobody wants to hear that. It’s basic sales, tell people what they want to hear.
Flight training is a risk, you are hoping that you will be offered a job flying jets. The closest thing to a guarantee these days is the FPP (Future Pilot Programme) or a MPL (Multi-crew Pilot Licence)
The good news is that some of the airlines have huge aircraft orders not to mention that older pilots will always be retiring. This creates some opportunity but please don’t think because an airline has ordered 50 new planes that there will all of a sudden be a ton of roles. Some aircraft will be replacements and the rest will be delivered over a number of years. So out of the 50 new planes 20 may be for fleet expansion and they may be delivered over 4 or 5 years. Put simply THERE IS NO PILOT SHORTAGE. Looking at things as they stand, there is unlikely to be one any time soon either.
