FINANCIAL NEWS

Gulf airlines face shortage, need 1,700 pilots a year

09 Jun 2011

(MENAFN) Saudi Aviation Flight Academy (SAFA) head of safety and aerodrome compliance, Captain Samir Kohli, stated that airlines operating in the gulf region faced a major shortage in pilots as they would need 1,700 pilots per year to meet demand, reported Saudi Gazette.

Kohli also said that a shortage of more than 700 pilots existed due to aviation colleges in the Gulf countries training less than 1,000 new pilots per year, and thus building a huge supply gap.

The SAFA official added that the issue was serious due to the hard training that is required by professional pilots. He pointed out that major training operations must start in the GCC countries as the situation threatened of a collapse of the industry in 20 years, as Kohli warned.

It is worth noting that some of the major airlines in the six GCC countries are the Dubai’s Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad and Qatar Airways.

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