Covid may have disrupted the airline industry says Delaware-based PilotsGlobal CEO Artem Sagan, but private aviation has boomed since the start of the pandemic. In 2021, business jet flight hours in the US were up 40 per cent over 2020, reaching their highest point since the 2008 financial crisis.

In its 30th annual Global Business Aviation Outlook, Honeywell reported that business jet operators had seen a sharp increase in aircraft purchase plans: 90 per cent reported no delays for their new and used jet purchase plans; 65 per cent globally expected to operate their business jets more frequently in 2022 than the previous year.

With the US airline industry now starting to hire again, reportedly up to 10,000 pilots in 2022 alone, the question is whether private aviation operators will retain sufficient pilots and crew to support demand, to keep aircraft in the air and to manage this new found growth. Pilot recruitment expert Sagan takes the opportunity to give his take on the situation at the moment:

“The pilot recruitment market has exploded. The current US flight crew recruitment market is very tight, almost everyone is hiring. There was a pilot shortage before the pandemic hit, but the past two years have seen airline disruption and recruitment has stalled. Some airline pilots, uncertain about their career prospects, moved across to the private aviation market; it was the only place to go. And it created an opportunity for business aviation operators to manage their increased demand by easily recruiting flight crew. More than 7,000 crew were looking for jobs in 2020 and 2021. Now that airlines are actively recruiting again, looking to hire at double the rate of pre-pandemic levels, it’s tough.

“Pilots have seen their pay go up by 20 per cent in the past six months alone, same for flight crew across the business aviation industry all around the country. Many private aviation carriers are abandoning Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license requirements in favour of a commercial license so as to be able to attract talent. The majority have expanded their benefits and allowance packages in order to stay competitive. Some operators, such as Red Wing Aviation, have turned to the Australian labour market, looking to recruit EB-3 eligible pilot candidates. Others have reduced the flight time and dropped the type rating entry requirements. Before the pandemic, we saw positions requiring ATP and in excess of 3,500 hours, as well as mandatory time-in-type. Now companies are asking for CPL with 3,000 hours and no type rating, with training provided in-house as part of the benefits package.

“One of the biggest challenges the business aviation market will face in 2022 is competition from the airline industry. For a long time pilots thought that working for a major airline was a good career move; it offered steady roster supported by seniority schemes instead of on-call schedules. Part 121 carriers such as Avelo Airlines, American Airlines and PSA Airlines have recently introduced pay increases that take first-year entry first officer salaries up to $165,000, so it becomes more difficult for private aviation employers to compete. The current private sector top first-year first officer pay stands at $150,000 per annum. But it does have the advantage of being based at home, spending more time with family and friends.

“During the last NBAA call on 26 January, the topic of pilot recruitment and talent supply sustainability was a key one, highlighting the importance of the issue to the industry. NBAA does a tremendous amount of work promoting business aviation to future aviators, but it will take time before these youngsters earn their cockpit qualifications. To sustain growth, and to be able to support increasing demand, the business aviation industry needs to ensure a good supply of pilots to keep private jets flying.

“Increasing the pay and benefits on offer could achieve this, but the cost would eventually be passed on to the customer through increased seat prices. Or perhaps entry requirements for captains could be relaxed to match those of airlines at 2,500 hours?

“These are short term solutions. Perhaps one of the best long term approaches we could take, without jeopardising safety, is to be more proactive in switching to a home-based work/life model: promote higher workplace transparency, better life quality standards, with employer-of-choice branding of business aviation focused on the flight crew workforce.

“At the end of the day, if you are an ATP license holder in the US today, you have a lot of options.”