Canada’s aviation industry faces existential headwinds

[sampsonmcd]

Gotta wonder when this will translate into actual wage increases.

https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/canadas ... fects-you/

Suzanne Kearns is an associate professor at the University of Waterloo.

Canada has a long and proud aviation history, recognized as a country of chief importance in global aviation, with an aviation sector made up of organizations that rank among the best in the world. The industry transports travellers, but also moves cargo, provides medical and logistical services, and serves as a crucial lifeline to northern and remote communities. In fact, Canada has the third-largest aerospace sector in the world, generating $29.8 billion in annual revenues, 211,000 direct and indirect jobs, and five per cent of the jobs in the North. We also have excellent infrastructure for flight education; we produce about 1,200 new commercial pilots each year.

And internationally, demand is rising at an unprecedented rate. Airlines are projected to double the number of aircraft and amount of passenger traffic by 2036, which will require 620,000 new pilots to fly large commercial aircraft internationally; 80 per cent of these new pilots are currently youth who have yet to begin pilot training. Canada alone will need 7,000 to 10,000 new pilots by 2025.

Yet meeting the current level of demand in the aviation industry already represents a struggle. According to the Canadian Council for Aviation & Aerospace, half of the flight operators in Canada say that finding qualified pilots is a significant challenge, with some reporting flight cancellations due to lack of flight crew. It’s only going to get harder on that front, too: while Canada indeed produces 1,200 new commercial pilots annually, only about 500 new pilots join the Canadian industry each year. Many of the 1,200 are international students or are drawn away by higher-paying jobs elsewhere in the world.

In addition, it is common to see around half of the flight students quit training before completion, usually because of financial difficulties. Before being eligible for employment, student pilots must earn licenses and ratings that cost approximately $75,000, and can climb to over $150,000 with tuition fees and other student costs. Student loans do not cover flight costs in most provinces. On top of that, the significant demand for pilots has caused regional airlines to hire new graduates directly before they follow the traditional path of working as a flight instructor. This creates a shortage of flight instructors, which disrupts training capacity.

With all of those headwinds, it adds up to a projected Canadian shortage of almost 3,000 pilots by 2025—and for reference, Air Canada currently employs about 3,500 pilots in total—which will only lead to more delays and cancellations that affect the travelling Canadian public. “We are facing a crisis as there is not the requisite level of new pilots entering the system to sustain the pilot ‘pipeline,’ ” says Heather Bell, the chair of the B.C. Aviation Council. “This pilot shortage will have severe and critical impacts not only on our economy and operators but on our remote and Indigenous communities.”

READ MORE: One man’s fight to help jets fly—despite mental illness

The pilot shortage is shortening the traditional phase of a pilot’s career during which they build experience. In years past, newly graduated pilots would complete an “hours-building” phase of their career, working as a flight instructor or flying in support of northern/specialty operations. Although lower paid positions, the hours of experience were very valuable. After two-to-five years, young pilots had sufficient experience to apply for higher-paid and desirable piloting positions in airlines or corporate aviation.

In recent years, this phase of a pilot’s career has been reduced or even eliminated. The industry is shifting away from measuring experience in hours towards competency-based training methods. These modern teaching approaches use instructional techniques and technologies (such as flight simulators) to produce graduates who are more airline-ready upon graduation. This allows regional airlines to increasingly recruit directly from schools. Although a tremendous opportunity for young pilots, this direct recruitment disrupts the entire training pipeline; as fewer pilots choose to serve as flight instructors. The resulting instructor shortage reduces the throughput of flight students. “I have begrudgingly started to use the word ‘crisis’ as we continue to see every sector of the aviation industry scoop up pilots from the beginning of the supply chain,” says Dan Glass, the president of Mitchinson Flight Centre in Saskatoon.

READ MORE: There’s plenty of room in flight school

Likewise, aviators are increasingly choosing to fly higher paying position in urban areas, rather than positions in the North. This threatens northern communities that rely on air transportation for vital supplies and equipment. “Unless we are miraculously able to find qualified flight instructors, we will have to limit the number of new students we can take on this year and turn away work,” says Colette Morin, the owner and chief pilot of Glacier Air.

“Pilots are gravitating toward major airlines in record numbers, as larger airlines aggressively recruit from a continuously replenished pool of pilots from smaller carriers,” says Robert Deluce, the president and CEO of Porter Airlines. “Eventually, the pool will shrink, which could destabilize the entire industry.” Some regional carriers have reported additional challenges as they fund new-hire pilot’s type endorsement ratings, which are qualifications needed to fly larger aircraft. Historically, this cost was a worthwhile investment as those pilots would typically serve for a number of years, but today, regional pilots are being recruited by major airlines more quickly and the financial impacts are taking a toll.

A possible remedy to the shortage is to encourage more diversity within the industry, as only 5.18 per cent of pilots are female, and a disproportionately low number are people of colour. “Opening the door for females and minority groups gives Canada access to a large number of potential pilots and creates a more diverse, balanced workforce,” says Wendy Tayler, the president of Alkan Air. However, there are obstacles in the way—around financial accessibility and unconscious bias in the industry—that must be broken down first.

In addition to educational offerings, such as free online training available through the University of Waterloo and the International Civil Aviation Organization, additional government support for the aviation sector is needed. Access to student loans for flight training costs, and consideration of loan forgiveness for time served as an instructor or in northern communities (which is currently offered to young medical professionals who serve the North), may ease some of the threats. Promoting pathways for women and minority groups into aviation careers is also crucially important. “Historically, passion for aviation was enough to drive sufficient numbers of people into aviation and aerospace careers, but that’s no longer the case,” says Darren Buss, the vice president of the Air Transport Association of Canada. “To overcome this critical shortage, government and industry must work together collaboratively to remove barriers that keep people who want to pursue aviation from doing so,”

Our country cannot afford to lose the connections to people, business, and infrastructure around the world that aviation provides. Without action, we risk making the whole sector—one that’s vital to Canada’s economy and our way of life—unsustainable.

[digits_]

54k as starting salary at the national airline.
Standard 14 hour duty days. But if that's not enough, you can go to 17. Woohoo!

[C.W.E.]

54k as starting salary at the national airline.
Standard 14 hour duty days. But if that's not enough, you can go to 17. Woohoo!

As long as there is a supply of people willing to work for that amount and for those hours the wages will either remain the same or get lower.

It would not surprise me to see wages go down, for sure there are enough people who will accept it.

[FOD_Vacuum]

It is disgusting, and quite frankly an insult to offer such low wages these days, especially with the global industry going the way it is..I see wage increases everywhere in the world but Canada...If you want to remain competitive and have the experienced pilots to stay in Canada, offer higher pay and retention bonus and boom you have more guys so you finally have a decent schedule for everyone at the company and can therefore offer more time off for everyone. People will stay longer and turn around wont just be 9 months, and morale will go up. Its not rocket science. I'm still looking overseas when the chance comes in the meantime.

[trey kule]

It is disgusting, and quite frankly an insult to offer such low wages these days, especially with the global industry going the way it is

Code: Select all

Why would they offer more when there are pilots willing to accept those terms?

I see instructor pay and working conditions improving dramatically.

[North Shore]

^ Amen to that! Given the long-term career/salary outlook at a legacy carrier like AC, people would crawl over broken glass to work there for a starting pay 1/2 of what they pay right now...short-term pain for long term gain, as the saying goes...

[complexintentions]

Ugh. Sounds like the same sort of people who'd pay twice as much on scratch and wins. I believe the term is "suckers". Looking for the golden ticket.

Just who you want as "risk managers" in a flight deck.

Canada's industry is simply an illustration of how powerful perceptions, and the herd mentality are. Selective reasoning and all that.

Hoping to win a lottery is not my idea of a career plan. Especially when it's not much of a win.

[Samuel]

What's the alternative? I see a lot of frustration with people accepting these low starting wages (and mind you, I see how that perpetuates the problem) but realistically, what would you tell someone trying to plan their career? Don't apply for that job because it should pay a higher starting wage?

Yes, it should, but should we tell these young pilots to work elsewhere that has a lower pay ceiling to ''teach AC a lesson''? And even if we do, how will that pilot feel in 20 years when he looks at his peers who did accept that starting wage and are now comparing salaries?

I'm not saying there are no other options, just that I don't think it's very realistic to expect people to stop taking these starting wages, although I do understand the frustration with the problem as a whole...



This is just my opinion, I have no experience in the industry yet, I have yet to start my training

[N181CS]

Pay might be low at the start like it always was. The key difference is the amount of time you have to stay in said low paid positions. One year of shit pay followed by a year maybe 2 of ok pay then it's nothing but upwards an onwards. Just a few short years ago people would take that 50k and live with it for 5-8 years after 10 years of slugging it out. When I started it was ill advised to do your MEIFR as you would not get a right seat job or SPIFR (unless lucky) in the first 2 years. You can easily find yourself at a mainline carrier after 5-7 years. Not the 15-20 it used to be. The system will get better but only when the sell outs of my time are gone. Those guys who paid for their training and cash up front bonds or sat right seat at jazz for 10 years they are most likely your union leaders. Look what happened at jazz. Those dudes sold all the new folk and the in some cases the old folk looking to change direction up S creek with no paddle.