Aviation: planes, pilots needed in bulk

The world's airline industry will need 25,000 planes by 2025, in addition to the 17,000 planes that will already be in service. A study states that new planes will require more than 18,000 new pilots every year - 360,000 pilots over the next 20 years - on average through 2025 as well as 480,000 new mechanics during that period of time.

"The aviation industry therefore should cut down costs of pilot training," Sherry Carbary, President, Alteno Training said at the 10th Annual World Aviation Training Symposium and Tradeshow in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday.

"The aviation training industry needs to lower the cost of simulators, increase training quality and efficiency and reduce the time required to train pilots. Pilot and maintenance training is a USD 3 billion business worldwide in the over 90 seat market. The cost of pilots, maintenance and cabin crews, and the associated training costs represent up to 20 percent of an airline's operating budget," she said.

According to Alteon, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company within Boeing Commercial Airplanes' Commercial Aviation Services group some of the most crucial issues facing the industry are the increasing demand for pilots, maintenance and cabin crew.

"Both Boeing and Airbus agree that the world's fleet will more than double over the next twenty years," Carbary said in a Press Release issued through AsiaNet.

"As the need for training continues to rise, we must, as an industry, find a way to lower the costs," she stated.