Airports Council International (ACI) warns that Spain has a severe shortage of pilots to meet the demand for them from airlines. According to its calculations, Spain will need 11,000 new pilots in the next decade, a figure that contrasts with the less than 600 pilots trained per year in our country, a figure that would barely cover half of the demand projected for the next 10 years.
It should also be noted that this demand has been calculated based on the growth in airport traffic, which has experienced an increase of 12% in just this last year 2024, and is expected to close this year with more than 300 million passengers.
One of the reasons for this shortage is the lack of generational replacement, as the pandemic caused numerous early retirements of professionals who currently have no intention of returning to the labor market. On the other hand, there are also the high costs of pilot training, a type of studies that in Spain have absolutely no help, funding, or support from the state, unlike what happens with practically all university studies.
This lack of institutional support is completely incomprehensible, especially if we take into account the weight of tourism in our economy, not to mention that this shortage affects not only commercial airlines but also other air jobs such as emergency or firefighting pilots.
At AEFA, we hope that this issue is addressed as what it is: a matter of state and a vital necessity for our economy.
