Mass training needed as demand rises for 18,000 pilots a year: Boeing

MAINTAINING high standards while developing mass pilot training programmes will be a growing challenge given the demand for 18,000 pilots a year worldwide over the next two decades, says a Boeing expert.

Brad Thomann, Alteon Training's chief operation officer, speaking at the Asia Pacific Aviation Training Symposium (APATS) held in conjunction with Hong Kong's Asian Aerospace 2007 conference last week, said: "It is increasingly important that individual airlines have training available for future captains which emphasises operational line training, command leadership and set clear safety and performance expectations for our future captains."

Mr Thomann has been involved with the training of 2,800 pilots at a major US airline. Alteon is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boeing, and operates more than 80 full flight simulators in 20 locations on six continents.

Boeing and Airbus have forecast that the world's fleet will more than double over the next 20 years, which means the world's airlines will require an additional 25,000 planes by 2025, adding to the 17,000 planes that will already be flying. Those new planes will require more than 18,000 new pilots every year - or 360,000 pilots over the next 20 years, a Boeing statement said.