The world’s airlines will need 255,000 new airline pilots over the next 10 years, according to simulator and training service provider CAE. “Rapid fleet expansion and high pilot retirement rates create a further need to develop 180,000 first officers into new airline captains, more than in any previous decade,” the company said in its first Airline Pilot Training Demand Outlook, released Tuesday. These numbers mean that over 50% of the pilots who will fly the world’s commercial aircraft in 10 years have not yet started to train. “This record demand will challenge current pilot-recruitment channels and development programs. In turn, new and innovative pilot career pathways and training systems will be required to meet the industry’s crewing needs and ever-evolving safety standards,” the report stated. <br/>
general
The world wants to fly, or at least a growing number of people around the world do and that's lifting forecasts for new planes, especially narrow-body models, to an all-time high. "The market is especially hungry for single-aisle airplanes as more people start traveling by air," said Randy Tinseth, VP of Marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Boeing's new forecast predicts the world will need 41,039 new airplanes over the next 20 years. That is 3.6% increase over the company's forecast from last year. The value of the orders is calculated at US$6.1t. A huge factor is the rise in middle-income travellers in developing markets like China and India. Not surprisingly, China remains the largest market for new airplanes. Over the next 20 years, Boeing expects Asia, including the China market to need more than 16,000 new airplanes. <br/>
Boeing will leverage technology from the Boeing 777 and 787 when pulling together the design for its proposed middle of the market aircraft, Boeing VP and GM-airplane development Mike Delaney said Tuesday. The new aircraft, if it goes ahead, will use “proven technology to create crossover economics”. Boeing is under pressure from several airlines, especially the US majors, to develop a direct replacement for the 757 single-aisle aircraft. Delaney was vague on many aspects of the new aircraft. A slide from his presentation, for example, made reference to a “hybrid cross-section”; pressed on whether this referred to a physical fuselage width somewhere between current single- and twin-aisle types, he fell back on the phrase “It’s a geometry that enables single-aisle economics with twin-aisle comfort,” without explaining further. <br/>
Mitsubishi is considering building 1, or perhaps 2, extra flight test aircraft to help it through its certification process for the heavily delayed Mitsubishi Regional Jet. There are already 5 flight test aircraft, 4 of which are based at Moses Lake, Washington state in the US; the fleet has so far accounted for 940 hours of flight time, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp program director Alex Bellamy said. Those 5 aircraft, all MRJ90 models, are being used to close out the various areas that have to be certificated by Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau. Although a definite decision has not yet been made, “The quickest and easiest way to do that is to build another aircraft,” Bellamy said. Building a second new aircraft would give Mitsubishi additional capacity to close out the tests as quickly as possible. <br/>