After being thrust into crisis by COVID-19, the aviation industry faces yet more trouble as the world emerges from the worst of the pandemic to find there is likely to be a shortage of pilots after thousands were laid off or decided to retire.
Government policies such as mandatory vaccinations for trainee pilots and travel curbs have also kept a new batch of potential aviators away, said Bhanu Choudhrie, chief executive officer of Alpha Aviation Group, which runs flying schools in the United Arab Emirates and the biggest in Southeast Asia’s training hub, the Philippines.
Alpha Aviation has trained more than 2,500 pilots for carriers including Philippine Airlines, AirAsia Group, Cebu Pacific Air Inc and Air Arabia.
Modern, longer-distance narrow-body aircraft such as Airbus SE’s A321 XLR jets — due to be delivered from 2023 — are to require more pilots than earlier models, compounding the shortage, Choudhrie said from London.
“Airlines are going to continue to buy, modernize their fleets, and as they do that, they are going to require pilots,” he said. “The market is getting interesting again, and we’re starting to see that upward trend, we’re starting to see airlines come to us and say: ‘Look this is my delivery schedule, can you have pilots ready for me in two years time?’”
Many airlines are aggressively trying to rehire pilots, as well as cabin crew and ground staff, but that has not been a simple process, and some jobs are left unfilled. Careers in the industry no longer look as secure as before.
It takes 18 to 24 months to train a pilot, Choudhrie said
This means carriers must work on getting them ready way ahead of the delivery of new aircraft, including narrow-body jets, such as the A321 XLR, which can fly longer.
Airlines typically order aircraft years in advance given the limited production capacity of plane manufacturers.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest