It's expected that the Asia-Pacific will require 185,600 new commercial airline pilots by 2030 according to the 2012 Boeing Pilot & Technician Outlook. The Southeast Asia region alone will need 51,500 pilots. Where will they come from? Flight schools. The industry is ramping up, trying to attract new talent.
Airlines Are Anticipating More Revenue
North American airlines is showing amazing improvement in its prospects. In fact, since Jun of last year, it's grown at a steady pace. This year, it expects to post profits of $1.9 billion. That's $500 million more than it forecasted back in June - obviously a good thing. How did NA do it? It trimmed capacity which gave them the highest load factors possible while simultaneously improving yields.
Latin America is showing growth too. This is reflected by the fact that there is growing demand driven by strong trade flows from the region. There is also robust growth in Mexico and Chile. Consolidation is also helping the airline industry.
Middle East airlines have been seeing major improvements in their prospects - increasing profits from $400 million to $700 million. They have successfully expanded their long-haul market share through their expanding hubs. Meanwhile, African airlines are breaking even - however, even this is good news since it was forecast to lose $100 million in 2012. To break even this year is a major feat.
The winner of the airline industry? Asia Pacific - expected to grow profits to $2.3 billion this year. This puts them up $300 million from a previous forecast. The only weak link seems to be its investment in the global cargo market - 40 percent of this market goes to Asia Pacific and this market has declined by 7 percent. To make up for this softening in the market, AP expects to do well in passenger markets.
FAA Predicts Steady Growth
The FAA is predicting solid long-term growth in the airline industry. Yearly passenger totals should climb from 713 million to about 1.3 billion according to the government. That growth is supposed to add a lot of new pressures on the aviation industry, since technological improvements will be necessary to handle the additional traffic.
The industry also needs to beef up staffing, hiring more pilots to handle the additional flights. Ray LaHood, Transportation Secretary says that "We need to invest in aviation today to make sure America's economy remains competitive."
Air Freight Industry Cautious, But Hopeful
Passenger airlines aren't the only area where growth is expected. Look for growth in the Air Freight industry. Even though the air cargo market has shrunk over the last year, the industry is looking to 2013 with optimism. Business confidence is up. The Eurozone situation is a bit more stable than a year ago, and the U.S. has successfully navigated its way through the so-called fiscal cliff.
With a lot of the negativity behind us, we should see airlines perk up, more businesses shipping goods around the world, and more passengers on flights to see family, friends, and even customers.
About The Author
Andre Maye is an amateur pilot. He enjoys blogging about his flying and sharing his stories on various aviation blogs around the web. Click to learn more about Pilot Training School.
