With the current economic downturn and the scarcity of foreign exchange in Nigeria, airlines are becoming more squeezed, as they have to pay $16.3 million annually on pilot training abroad.
Airline operators say this huge sum will have been lesser if the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) provided a simulator training school here in Nigeria or allowed the pilots train once a year as against twice a year, as it is done in other developed nations.
In a widely circulated publication, the NCAA reported that Nigerian airlines spend about $16.3 million every year on pilot recurrent simulator training for pilots, engineers and cabin crew.
Pilots travel overseas twice a year to have the simulator training, as that is the only way they can get their licences renewed by the NCAA.
Approximately 70 percent of this cost is expended on acquisition of relevant visas, flight tickets, subsistence allowances, hotel accommodation and other sundry expenses. The actual simulator training requires only about 30 percent of the total cost.
For example, Dana Air has five aircraft in its fleet but it has 45 pilots, while Arik Air has 28 aircraft with over 250 pilots, each of these pilots travel overseas twice a year for simulator training.
Nogie Meggison, president, Airline Operators of Nigeria, says an airline pays in dollars for these training – maintenance facility, pilots’ salaries, their flight and payment for hotel accommodation for the period the pilot will spend on the training.
Meggison adds that when the pilot returns, the airline pays for his licence renewal, for his medicals and also the salary.
Dung Rwang Pam, a pilot/aviation management professional, says Nigeria’s population is 18 percent of Africa’s hence we are expected to provide the appropriate 18 percent of the manpower.
Pam explains that this comes to precisely 130 additional pilots and 146 new engineers every year. Failing to meet this target means Africa will have to mitigate the shortfall by employing expatriates.
Boeing, aircraft manufacturing firm, has predicted that nearly 1.5 million new pilots and new technicians would be in demand over the next 20 years.
In its seventh year, the outlook is a respected industry study that forecasts the 20-year demand for crew to support the world’s growing commercial airplane fleet. New this year is a look at cabin crew demand.
Boeing forecasts that between 2016 and 2035, the world’s commercial aviation industry will require approximately 617,000 new commercial airline pilots, 679,000 new commercial airline maintenance technicians and 814,000 new cabin crew.
The 2016 outlook shows a growth of 10.5 percent for pilots over the 2015 outlook, and 11.3 percent for maintenance technicians.
Boeing says that new pilot demand is primarily driven by new airplane deliveries and fleet mix, while new technician demand is primarily driven by fleet growth.
According to Sherry Carbary, vice president, Boeing Flight Services, “The Pilot and Technician Outlook has become a resource for the industry to determine demand for successful airline operations. Cabin crew are an integral part of operating an airline, and while Boeing does not train cabin crew like pilots and technicians, we believe the industry can use these numbers for planning purposes.”
According to Boeing, the outlook represents a global requirement for about 31,000 new pilots, 35,000 new technicians and 40,000 cabin crew annually.
