Airbus CEO warns of dire pilot shortage in Asia
Airbus, along with Singapore Airlines, has launched its Asia Training Centre in Singapore to teach more than 10,000 trainees annually and is Airbus' biggest such facility yet
Asia faces a severe shortage of well-trained pilots as the region's demand for air travel skyrockets, according to Airbus' chief executive.
"We believe that we will require close to 200,000 pilots for the region, whereas there are only 65,000 right now, in the next 20 years," Fabrice Bregier, president and CEO of the European planemaker, said on Tuesday.
To meet that need, Airbus and Singapore Airlines launched a training center in Singapore this week, equipped with eight full-flight simulators and six cockpit training devices, and with the capacity to teach more than 10,000 trainees a year.
"There is a shortage of good, trained pilots and this is due to the growth of the region. Instead of sending the pilots to France or America, it is much better and efficient for everybody to have a center in Asia," Bregier said of the center, in which his company holds a 55 per cent stake.
The Airbus Asia Training Centre (AATC) in Singapore will be Airbus' largest one yet; the company has similar facilities in Toulouse, Miami and Beijing.
Twenty years of rapid economic development across Asia Pacific has bolstered income levels, creating a new wave of travel demand from middle-income households, while market liberalisations have enabled regional low-cost carriers (LCCS) to thrive.
Even as China, the world's second-largest economy and a key catalyst for global tourism, experienced slower growth, aviation remained unaffected, Bregier said.