The booming Asian tourism became an opportunity for airlines companies to expand or for others to start their operation. The continuous success of tourism in the region is at risk because of the shortage of pilots that will cater to the growing demand in the airline companies.
The Bamboo Airways Co. of Vietnam is among the newest low-cost carrier that has started their operation and it is expected that more carriers will emerge. According to CAPA Centre for Aviation, LCCs booked around 1,400 aircraft orders for Southeast Asia compared to the 400 full-service carriers. The lag in the supply of pilots will cause airline companies to struggle in finding skilled cockpit crew.
According to Peter Harbison, executive chairman of Sydney-based CAPA said that Asia expects a huge wave of tourists and the new airlines might struggle to cater it. The International Air Transport Association said that the Global traffic is expected to double in the next two decades and the Asia-Pacific region will contribute the large part of it. Boeing Co. said that Asia will need 16,930 new planes and about 261,000 pilots through 2037 which will double the current number of airplanes and pilots.
The pressure on airline companies is already evident. Last month, India's IndiGo decided to stop dozens of their daily flights until March because of the exhaustion that pilots experienced after exceeding their annual limit on flying hours. China Airlines Ltd. in Taiwan agreed to spend $4 million to improve the company's working conditions after its pilots went on a seven-day strike due to complaints that include fatigue.
The world's biggest long-hauled airline, Emirates, also announced in April that they have to cut flights because of their shortage for pilots. Some airlines decided to open their own pilot schools to ensure that they have a steady supply. Companies with training schools included South Korea's biggest budget carrier, Jeju Air Co., Southeast Asia's largest by the fleet, AirAsia Group Bhd., IndiGo and Indonesia's Lion Air.
Wendu Sowers, director of commercial marketing at Boeing, said that If she thinks back to five to 10 years, they weren't seeing any training academies set by airlines. She added that the supply-demand dynamics are coming into play everyone is seeing the system respond.
Steven Greenway, president of an ultralow-cost carrier owned by Canada's WestJet Airlines Ltd., Swoop, said that the high demand for pilots made other airlines to cut the minimum hour requirement for pilots to be qualified as captains to quickly fill positions.
