International Civil Aviation Organization
Over the past years, the demand for air travel has increased significantly. With an increased demand for air travel, population growth, economic growth, an increased number of airlines, and better technology, the world would accept that there would be more aviation employees. However, one of the major problems that the aviation industry is currently experiencing is the shortage of qualified aviation employees. For instance, according to the United States Federal Aviation Administration, in 1987, there were around 827 000 pilots in the United States. The number has decreased by 30 percent, and a significant number of this reduced amount is pilots still training. There is no guarantee that they will complete their training. Thus, the increased demand for air travel and the shortage of pilots means that there are low supply and high demand in the aviation industry. Aviation experts warn that the lack of enough skilled professionals could create havoc in the aviation sector in the upcoming years since the prediction is that the shortage will get worse. Also, the aging workforce, stricter minimum requirements for flight training, and higher costs of training are making it difficult for airlines and governments to address the shortage of pilots.
The International Civil Aviation Organization predicts that there is also a shortage of qualified personnel will lead to the grounding of many planes forcing airlines to incur losses. Also, travelers will not be able to get to their destination of choice on time. ICAO states that the underlying problem of these shortages is aviation professions are no longer attractive enough to possible candidates, unaffordable training, mass retirement of the current aviation professionals, competition with the industry and from other industry sectors for skilled personnel and insufficient training capacity that is unable to meet the current demand. Further, the learning methods have not adapted to the ongoing changes happening in the sector like technological changes, there is little information about the types of aviation professions that will be available in future because of the changing industry demands and lack of harmonization of competencies in some areas of the aviation sector since most professional are trained regionally.
It is unethical for the FAA and aviation industries to allow unqualified personnel to do flight checks or any inspections since they increase the risk of making the flights dangerous for the airline consumers. Many airline accidents have been linked to unsafe pilots and unqualified FAA inspectors. In the hearings of probes being done about airline accidents, significant blame is usually placed on inexperienced employees and the indifference of the FAA to deal with this issue. Some people believe that the FAA has some personal interest in airline manufacturers such as Boeing and airline companies like the United Airlines, and this makes it difficult for them to make ethical decisions. With a lack of assurance about the qualifications of aviation employees, air travel is becoming unreliable. Further, reduced training and crew competency have meant that airline companies now have to rely a lot on the reliability of aircraft and engines and the assistance from the employees. Safety statistics usually promise air travelers happy landing. Unfortunately, it is not easy to determine if the flight is unsafe or not. However, the International Airline Passengers Association is trying to provide passengers with some guidance. The organization lists the most dangerous areas and airlines for airline passengers. The United States Federal Aviation likewise has a list of questionable airlines, but the organization doesn’t make the names of these airlines public. Instead, it works with airlines and home countries to improve their safety practices. There is a growing need to improve the air safety of air travelers, and that is why the FAA has to conduct aggressive inspections frequently and focus on those that it considers being risky. Generally, flying is considered to be the safest way to travel, but there is no doubt that it has risks, and travelers need to feel more reliable with having qualified personnel. Qualified personnel do not just have the necessary skills, but they are honest enough to communicate to employees and aviation stakeholders about the state of situations.
Factors that contribute to the shortage of unqualified personnel
In recent years, there has been pressure on companies across all industries to commit to the protection of the environment since it is an ethical thing to do. The aviation sector, which significantly contributes to air pollution, has been under pressure to cut on the emission of gases and work towards making sure that the temperatures of the earth do not keep on rising. The future of the Airline Industry 2035 study done by the International Air Transport Association states those airlines across the globe are facing increasing pressure to invest in greener forms of air travel. For instance, the European Union has already committed to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by around 20% by 2020, and this means that airlines will be required to reduce the emissions of these costs significantly. Therefore many airlines are researching alternative fuels, and since it involves a lot of investment, the airlines are forced to decrease recruitment costs, the employees are forced to work more time or with little alary to avoid the grounding of the airlines.
Additionally, technological advancements such as artificial intelligence and robots have contributed to the lack of qualified personnel. A lot of leading aircraft manufacturers are investing a lot in urban air mobility vehicles that are self-piloting, cargo drones, and semi-autonomous commercial aircraft. Likewise, autonomous systems have other functions in the aviation sector, such as surveillance, reconnaissance, and intelligence. With the new developments, the traditional responsibilities of employees like engineers and technicians are being taken away by technology. The employees are also forced to evolve to these rapid technologies. But, even with rapid techniques, the role of these employees is still paramount. The aviation sector has done little to reassure these employees who are facing job losses forcing both potential and existing employees to seek jobs or not see the airline sector as a lucrative place to get a job.
Furthermore, the poaching of experienced aviation employees has been on the rise. For instance, the unprecedented growth of Chinese airlines leads to these airlines poaching a lot of employees from European airlines. Since there exist no international regulations to regulate the workforce, there was no way to stop the Chinese airlines from poaching the workers. Further, the workers were willing to be poached because the Chinese airlines offered them more money.
There are numerous ethical queries about the global shortage of aviation employees aviation experts seek to establish if the deficit is a reality on an artificial crisis. Over the years, the airline sector has worked on forecasting the long-term needs for airliners. The airline industry supply chain has various needs, including the needs of employees. However, a majority of these forecasting reports did not include the future needs of the employee and how the changes in the airline sector would affect its current employees. There is also little or no data about the training of these employees.
Ethical issues about unqualified personnel and the dangers of travel
Despite there being a shortage of qualified aviation workers such as pilots, there is still a significant number of personnel who are unemployed, especially those who are newly trained and qualified. The aviation sector firms are regularly approached by applicants who decide to choose the profession because they believe that it is rewarding, and they will have a glamorous lifestyle. However, by the time they complete their training, they are so much in debt with no job available, yet the aviation sector keeps on complaining. Therefore, these job-seeking applicants are skeptical about the shortage of employees in the aviation sector, and they believe that the data being made public is false, and it is only meant to lure persons into training for the aviation sector jobs. They accuse the aviation industry not providing the correct information to the public and creation an illusion that the aviation sector has enough vacancies hence convincing an increased number of persons to go into debt while trying to enter into the aviation labor market.
Also, despite the government and stakeholders in the aviation sector warning airlines that the shortage of qualified employees will be devastating, they have refused to address real issues that have led to the shortage of the employees. For instance, the extensive and expensive training of pilots deters pilot students. Previously pilots could begin in the military, the transition to a regional airline, and then go up the career ladder. But, standards and flight hour requirements were decreased, leading to some of the local airlines having accidents. As a result, the FAA, together with congress, was forced to increase flight hours. Therefore, a significant number of students never make it to the cockpit. Training expenses add up quickly, forcing these pilots to quit before they become actual pilots. The lack of interest from the airline and the government to help address these issues has raised questions on whether these stakeholders are willing to address the issue of shortage of employees.
Without a doubt, the increasing growth of the shortage of airline personnel is putting the aviation sector growth at risk since it causes planes to sit idle and higher salaries, which cut into profits of airline companies since employee unions are pushing for more benefits. For example, airline companies like the Emirates and Qantas Airways in Australia have used a lot of resources in hiring. Still, they are struggling to use their jets due to the existence of training bottlenecks. In the united states, airlines now have to use more financial resources to compensate employees because pilots took pay cuts more than a decade ago because of the global financial crisis, and the agreement states that they get big raises under their new contracts because airlines are posting profits. The increased employee costs mean that the two most significant expenses for airlines are employee compensation packages and fuel costs. With increasing cost pressures, airlines have been forced to revise their profit forecasts.
The lack of interest to deal with the shortage of personnel in the aviation sector despite the challenges it poses to the industry means that some stakeholders are benefitting from the shortage. For instance, training organizations like the pilot training organizations benefit a lot from the shortage of employees. In recent years, research has shown that pilot training has become big and lucrative business. Yearly, these training organizations have seen an increased number of graduates, and their power in the aviation sector has substantially grown; hence very few airlines and operators have control over the quantity, and quality of the training is done. The retail model that is being used by the training institutions means that the supply of pilots in the aviation sector is highly dependent on the training institutions. It also means that the training institutions determine the cost of training aviation employeesthe training institutions determine the cost of training aviation employees. Also, airlines are not committed to having enough employees since they fear that it will be costly to train them. Finally, considering the cost of training and the fact that training involves a person taking a significant amount of debt to begin their career, the issue of leaving training of pilots to training institutions only is an ethical one. Stakeholders in the aviation sector need to intervene and make sure that the institutions do not only increase their business targets. They need to guarantee that these institutions maintain their quality targets and, at the very least, maintain integrity through the charging of reasonable fees for training. Airlines have delegated this role of training, and this has adversely impacted their independence.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the demand for aviation employees will continue to increase. However, it is not still evident whether, in the long-term, there will be crippling shortages that are being predicted. Despite the high costs of training personnel and in particular pilots, there are still individuals who appear to be responding to the projected demand. For instance, some airlines have begun to train their personnel and are trading meeting their need for employees at almost zero upfront costs for their type of training. Airlines are now investing in training personnel not just to have enough employees but also to make sure they maintain a good reputation with little or no accidents associated with the airlines. Further, airlines have become tired of having to invest a lot in attracting personnel instead of owning some of these skills. Currently, pilots and aviation personnel like engineers have a lot of bargaining power since airlines want to meet the increasing demand, and emerging markets like China are poaching their qualified staff. Likewise, despite flight training being a big business globally, airlines do not have the privileged of training personnel according to their own needs. Therefore, it is difficult for these airlines to meet their demand on time since they have to retrain the workers to meet their individual needs. Finally, the aviation sector in one industry that is usually faced with a lot of risks because of its instability. Therefore, the industry needs not to risk by having a shortage of skilled personnel. The sector needs to work towards having stable work patterns, appropriate terms of training, and a good working environment for it to be able to continue attracting suitable candidates to the sector.