US: More jobs will be cleared for take-off. Aspiring pilots are ready.

Thousands of pilots at the country’s largest carriers are nearing retirement, opening up opportunities for those who pay up to US$200,000 for the training necessary to advance as an aviator. Although big airlines can recruit qualified fliers by turning to smaller affiliates and other regional carriers the way major league ball clubs dip into the minors, some regional carriers are having trouble replenishing their own rosters. “I’ve never seen the industry be at this level of pilot demand,” said Kenneth Byrnes, the chairman of the flight training department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s campus in Daytona Beach, Fla. An airline analyst at the Cowen Group said in a research note last year that about 22,000 pilots — about 2 in 5 — at the 5 largest domestic carriers would reach mandatory retirement age, 65, by 2026. <br/>