Pilot shortage in Canada (G&M article)

[FA@AC]

Can’t link it, but the article is on the front page of today’s (Tue) Business section.

[Airband]

Airline sector crisis: Thousands of pilots lost their jobs during the pandemic, and their ranks haven’t been replenished

Tue Sep 06, 2022 - The Globe and Mail
by Nicolas Van Praet

  Quote

'Other national governments hatched industrywide plans and provided billions in financial aid for the sector, but Canada took a piecemeal approach negotiated largely one-on-one with each airline. And while the United States and other countries told carriers to keep their most critical staff on the payroll, including pilots, in preparation for a recovery, Canada did not.'

In the labour-force wreckage wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada’s commercial airline pilots stand out as an anomaly.

No other group of white-collar workers with their level of training, skill and pay levels was let go in other sectors of the economy over the past two years as the country was reshaped by infection and uncertainty. Not in banking, not in education and not in government.

Pilots making six-figure salaries and operating some of the world’s most sophisticated flying machines joined coffee baristas, hotel cleaners and hairdressers in the ranks of the unemployed – all workers in industries hardest hit by the health crisis. Thousands of pilots lost their jobs. They are the casualties of an airline sector that stopped almost overnight and a government that experts say lacked the leadership and foresight to properly plot its restart.

The fallout of that failure is clear. And it stretches from the baggage carousel to the cockpit.

Demand for air travel is back with unexpected force this year, but the supply of pilots isn’t there to match for a number of reasons. Many are still coming back up to speed in training after months away. Others have left Canada or the industry entirely for more predictable jobs.

Airlines are scrambling daily to find the pilots to fly planes, sometimes just hours before scheduled takeoff. Delays on the ground at airports and changes to federal rules governing pilot flight hours have compounded the problem.

“It’s like if we had a snowstorm every day for the past four months,” said Louis-Éric Mongrain, a pilot with Air Transat who comments regularly on the industry in the media. Airline crew schedulers, the men and women whose job it is to find pilots and flight attendants to staff a flight, are “going nuts” dealing with irregular operations, he said.

For weeks this summer, public attention has focused on the visible consequences of an industry incapable of processing the fallout of reopening after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted: waiting halls bursting with luggage at Pearson and Trudeau airports, and travellers lamenting hours spent in line at customs and border control. In sum: robust demand trying to move through a much-diminished system of understaffed airports and airlines.

But for the professionals in the blazers and epaulettes, a related storyline is playing out behind the scenes – one that exposes the shortcomings of Canada’s approach to aviation. Simply put, there aren’t enough pilots at the moment, and those who are working are sometimes pushing the maximum of allowable hours.

Meanwhile, the pipeline of new recruits isn’t as robust as in years past, and that’s hitting carriers big and small. Without a more deliberate effort to improve oversight and management of the country’s airline industry, many experts warn we’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes again.

The life of one Montreal-based pilot illustrates the situation. His mobile phone rings steadily, sometimes in the early-morning hours, with requests from his airline asking if he wants to helm an upcoming flight that’s not on his regular schedule. It’s overtime work and, after two years of downtime, it is welcome even if it’s challenging, he says.

“It’s constant phone calls. I mean, there’s just a real need for anyone who’s a pilot or a flight attendant,” the aviation veteran said. The Globe and Mail agreed not to name him, or his employer, in order to allow him to speak freely and avoid any potential repercussions because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

“I’m taking enough of it that it’s good. But I’m not going overboard with it because I was getting tired too,” the pilot said of the non-scheduled hours. “The last thing you want to do is fly tired. It’s not a career that allows for fatigue. … This summer I think that’s the biggest thing is that all the air crews have to be really careful about how much they fly.”

At Sunwing Airlines, a carrier specializing in holiday travel, the crew shortage was so acute in July that it caused delays as long as a day, according to one pilot who spoke to The Globe on condition of anonymity. Things got so bad the airline had to hire an external charter operator just to pick up the slack and carry its passengers, the pilot said. He described it as “a complete operational meltdown.”

“Crew schedulers, they just want to put out the fire that’s in front of them,” the pilot said. “And if it makes another fire two days down the road, that will be dealt with then.”

Sunwing did not respond when asked for comment. The Globe is not naming the pilot because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Perhaps the biggest reason why airlines are finding themselves short of pilots is that after being furloughed during the pandemic, most of them had to reboot their qualifications in recent months after the industry restart this spring. That training happens in both the simulator and in-flight with another pilot, and the process can take several weeks.

Air Transat, for example, let go of most of its pilots as its operations came to a halt during the first waves of COVID-19 and it went into emergency cash-preservation mode. Some of them took other jobs to make ends meet. Others left the country to work for other airlines.

As soon as ticket sales started picking up again, airlines started calling back staff. There were a couple of false starts, notably last fall when the COVID Omicron variant hit. But when demand returned in full force earlier this year, airlines rushed to take advantage of it, adding as many flights as they dared given their capabilities.

Air travel, however, is not something that can be rebooted from a near-standstill overnight, says Captain Tim Perry, a WestJet Airlines pilot and president of the Canadian arm of the Air Line Pilots Association. Mr. Perry and other union leaders had urged the federal government to create a national recovery plan during the pandemic to carry airlines and airports through the crisis and ensure they were ready to return to the skies as soon as pandemic restrictions were lifted.

The plan didn’t materialize. Other national governments hatched industrywide plans and provided billions in financial aid for the sector, but Canada took a piecemeal approach negotiated largely one-on-one with each airline. And while the United States and other countries told carriers to keep their most critical staff on the payroll, including pilots, in preparation for a recovery, Canada did not.

Pilots were “basically abandoned,” said Mehran Ebrahimi, an aerospace specialist at the Université du Québec à Montréal. There was no help for them to maintain their qualifications every six months as they’re required to do, at an estimated cost of $10,000 a person, Mr. Ebrahimi said. So, many left the industry altogether.

The academic blames the Canadian government for a lack of leadership, adding Ottawa consistently underestimates the strategic value of the industry and its role in the economy. “Whether it be on passports, on airports, on airlines, on pilots, we’ve always acted as if the pandemic would be eternal,” he said. “And we’re seeing the results of that approach now.”

When airlines started to ramp up their crew training to meet renewed demand, that process happened far too late, Mr. Perry said. “We’re still feeling the effects of that.”

Airline training departments have maxed out their capacity in recent weeks, he said. The result: not enough scheduled pilots on the roster, not enough reserve pilots on standby, and crew scheduling focused on “plugging holes at the last minute,” Mr. Perry said.

Montreal-based CAE Inc., one of the world’s biggest civil aviation instruction companies, said there is a “high number of pilots” back in its simulators and training centres these days. “As the industry continues to recover, we expect more demand,” a company spokeswoman said.

The labour situation is improving as time goes on, Mr. Perry said. At the moment, pilot supply is not a major contributing factor toward many of the problems at Canada’s major airports, he said.

Air Canada said in July it is flying with almost as many pilots as it had in 2019, but operating just 80 per cent of its 2019 schedule. The airline said it has also doubled the number of pilots on reserve at any given time for wide-body planes, while increasing by 75 per cent the reserve pilots for narrow-body aircraft.

“The operating environment globally is under pressure” from well-documented issues such as security and customs lines, and limitations on the number of flights imposed by air traffic control, Air Canada said in an e-mail response to questions. “The importance and duration of disruptions on the network was such that crew shortages could not always be adequately mitigated as planned.”

Transat spokeswoman Andréan Gagné said the airline remains “in control of the situation” despite the difficulties. WestJet spokeswoman Denise Kenny said while the carrier is not immune to the challenges currently facing the industry, it has worked to balance flight offerings with sufficient staffing levels. All WestJet flight personnel have been recalled, she said.

New federal flight and duty time regulations for pilots that came into effect in December, 2020, have also delivered a curveball for airline scheduling departments. In short, the rules now limit flight crew work to a maximum of 112 hours over 28 consecutive days, 300 hours over 90 days and 1,000 hours over 365 days. The maximum flight duty period has also been reduced slightly and now takes into account the time of day work starts.

Mr. Ebrahimi estimates there is currently a shortage of 1,500 pilots in Canada, a situation with origins stretching back years to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In the immediate aftermath of that atrocity, demand for pilots diminished internationally and fewer people chose it as a career. That was followed by a period of strong growth, fuelled by the arrival of low-cost carriers and the rise of aviation in China.

Staffing is still not in balance today, Mr. Ebrahimi said. He said the government should consider financing the training of pilots – something schools such as the Cégep de Chicoutimi have called for – to remedy the situation.

Airlines are hunting to find pilots wherever they can, often with knock-on effects on smaller carriers.

Yani Gagnon, the owner of Pascan Aviation, a Quebec regional airline whose biggest plane, the Saab 340B, seats 33 passengers, told Radio-Canada in April his company was forced to cancel some of its flights and reshuffle its schedule this summer because nearly a third of its 60 pilots had been poached by major carriers since the start of the year.

“It’s a very serious problem. Small carriers like Pascan Aviation are being targeted by the big ones – whether that be Air Canada, Transat, WestJet, Sunwing. They’re drawing on our pool of pilots,” Mr. Gagnon told the public broadcaster. “No pilots, no airplanes” is the bottom line, he said.

[mrlupin]

A brief visit to Wikipedia to extract the Canada demographics Graph and you have a credible, visual explanation for the various manpower shortages. While it's fun to criticize the government for all sorts of issues, this one has been brewing for a while and will not be solved by more "money for training pilots".

 

The Boomers are retiring...

There aren't as many of Gen X to fill the boomer spots

Gen Y is young, eager and keen but needs a bit more experience

The millennials are where everything falls apart due to their low numbers. If nothing changes the system could collapse when Gen X and Y retire.

If you want to see what it looks like elsewhere...

Go compare with the US which isn't quite as bad  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States

or With Mexico which has an ideal distribution   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Mexico

[Moon The Loon]

I am one of those recent retirees and I couldn't care less anymore about "pilot shortages" after the struggle I and so many of my former colleagues faced over the last 35 years to obtain decent working conditions and wages in the Canadian aviation industry. Serves the airlines and the traveling public right. Good riddance to the industry. I'll take the train. Or just drive.

[Airband]

A shortage of pilots is making travel chaos in Canada even worse

Canada's 2 biggest airlines dominate hiring, leaving fewer pilots for everyone else

Zona Savic, right, listens to her instructor inside the cockpit of a flight simulator unit at Seneca College

Tue Jan 31, 2023 - CBC News
by Peter Evans

Quote

'But as demand for flying collapsed in 2020, so did the number of new pilots getting their paperwork. Government data shows less than 500 licences were awarded in 2020, a figure that fell to less than 300 in 2021 and just 238 last year.'

From pandemic-related travel restrictions to extreme weather events, Canada's travel industry has navigated an unprecedented amount of uncertainty of late. And now, just as demand for travel has returned to its 2019 level, airlines are navigating their next patch of turbulence: a lack of qualified pilots.

According to Transport Canada, in a typical pre-pandemic year, roughly 1,100 pilot licences were issued. When complemented by foreign-trained pilots, that was generally more than enough to satisfy the needs of carriers as large as WestJet and Air Canada, all the way down to regional, charter and cargo airlines.

But as demand for flying collapsed in 2020, so did the number of new pilots getting their paperwork. Government data shows less than 500 licences were awarded in 2020, a figure that fell to less than 300 in 2021 and just 238 last year.

The department told CBC News in a statement that while labour shortages in the airline sector has been "identified as a priority area for action," there are no current plans to loosen regulations. But the agency says it's doing what it can to "increase the competitiveness of the Canadian flight training industry as well as improve the viability of aviation careers to address any shortages."

Whatever changes do come will do little to help anyone in the short term, and travellers are already seeing the impact of the industry's current labour crunch.

Staff shortages were a factor in charter airline Sunwing's cancellation of 67 flights over the last two weeks of December, along with extreme weather.

Salaries for experienced pilots generally go up faster and higher at the major airlines than they do at most others, they are so typically able to have their pick among those available. That causes shortages just about everywhere else.

The head of the Air Transport Association of Canada says it's a problem that had been brewing for many years, even before the pandemic.

"We haven't had enough pilots for a long time, mostly at the regional level," John McKenna said.

Long, expensive process

Getting a commercial licence is the last step in a multi-year process of becoming a pilot, a journey that can cost tens of thousands of dollars and take years.

In Canada, for many that journey ends with a dream job at either WestJet or Air Canada, but because of the expense and time commitment of training a new pilot, the major airlines often hire top staff from smaller carriers instead of methodically developing their own.

"Their fishing grounds is the regional carriers. And the regional carriers go down to the smaller carriers, air taxi groups … those levels have been hurting for many years," McKenna said.

Canada's two biggest airlines told CBC News in emailed statements that while there is indeed a higher than normal demand for pilots right now, both of them are managing to meet their needs.

"As a large global carrier operating the most modern, largest aircraft, we are a very desirable destination for talented pilots," AIr Canada said. "As a result, we are able to attract pilots as required."

"We have and continue to responsibly manage and plan our operations to meet the anticipated demand of our guests and are fully staffed across our network to support our operation," WestJet said.

That's not the case for everyone else. Small airlines often have so few pilots on staff that it doesn't take the loss of very many to stop planes from flying.

In the fall, Sunwing applied to bring in more than 60 temporary foreign workers to meet demand for pilots, but that application was rejected, which exacerbated the chaos seen at the end of 2022. The airline has since cancelled almost all flights out of Saskatchewan and most out of Manitoba for the rest of the winter travel season.

Pandemic reduced numbers, too

It's not just the big boys gobbling up all the qualified pilots, either. Many simply left the profession during the pandemic.

"Two years ago, to the day, literally almost every pilot [was] out of work," says Dave Boston, a pilot with 25 years experience who's also the man behind Edmonton-based aviation job board, Pilot Career Centre.

Faced with furloughs and layoffs at airlines big and small, many pilots tried to wait it out, but many simply moved on, he told CBC News in an interview.

"Many who had businesses or other interests, after maybe six months to a year, had to put food on the table, and they left the industry," Boston said.

For the pilots who are left, headhunting is the new normal. He says he hears from desperate airlines every day, because they either can't find the staff, or just lost yet another one. "It's very common for pilots, unfortunately, to work there for six months [then] get a surprise interview that they don't expect to get, and then they're gone," he said.

"It's a real challenge right now."

One person hoping to meet that challenge is Zona Savic, a soon-to-be graduate of one of Canada's premier aviation schools, Seneca College in Peterborough, Ont.

While she had planned to go into engineering, she joined the Air Cadets while in high school, and was quickly bitten by the aviation bug.

"I just knew from the moment that I was in that plane, this is what I was going to do," she told CBC News in an interview.

She's on track to get her pilot's licence soon, and while she may do additional training to become an instructor herself, she says it's a load off her mind to know that she won't have to worry about finding a job.

And even better for the industry, she has no qualms about working her way up at smaller carriers flying niche, remote routes.

" I just love the feeling of flying, so if that's what I'm doing, I don't really care if I'm in Paris, or in Nunavut," she says. "Anything is good for me, as long as I get to experience that."

[Guest1]

This shortage is of a greater concern more than a reduction in passenger capacity / flight frequency for leisure or other non critical travel.

Sharp drop in new helicopter pilot licences raises concerns about country's air ambulance service

 

Transport Canada issued 12 licences in 2022, down from 62 a decade earlier

Julia Wong · CBC News · Posted: Feb 11, 2023 2:00 AM MST | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

 

 

 

Air ambulance services struggle with shortage of helicopter pilots

2 days ago

Duration2:03

Canada has seen a dramatic drop in the number of helicopter pilots it licenses over the last 10 years. That’s making it more difficult for air ambulance services to recruit and retain qualified pilots to transport critically ill patients.

Dawn Sabeski's vehicle was hit in a head-on collision on a Manitoba highway on May 28, 2017.

Sabeski's friend, who was in the vehicle with her, died on impact; Sabeski was taken to a rural hospital in western Manitoba.

Her injuries were extensive — internal bleeding and multiple fractures — and she needed more advanced medical care.

So she was transported to the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg by STARS air ambulance (which stands for Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service).

"I would not have made it [if I were] transported by ambulance to HSC. I wouldn't have made it," said Sabeski, who lives in East Selkirk, Man.

 

Dawn Sabeski suffered serious injuries after she was involved in a head-on collision on a Manitoba highway in May 2017. She was transported to the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg by air ambulance. (Warren Kay/CBC)

Many parts of rural Canada rely on air ambulances flown by licensed helicopter pilots.

But the number of helicopter pilot licences being issued by Transport Canada has been declining over the last decade — raising concerns over what that means for air ambulances services.

According to figures provided to CBC News, Transport Canada issued 62 helicopter pilot licences in 2012. But in 2022, that number dropped by 80 per cent to just 12.

Retirements, high cost of training

John Gradek, an aviation expert at McGill University in Montreal, said the dramatic drop in the number of licences could be due to several factors.

Gradek, who co-ordinates the school's aviation management program, said pilots have been retiring, and many have also been headhunted by regional and national airlines facing their own pilot shortages.

• Fixed-wing air ambulance service grounded for winter in 3 rural Alberta towns

But he also said there are other reasons, including the cost of training, which can be about $100,000.

"It is an expensive career choice," Gradek said, adding that higher pay could be one way to attract those considering a career in the cockpit.

 

John Gradek, an aviation expert at McGill University in Montreal, says the number of helicopter pilot licences has fallen for several reasons, including pilot retirements and the high cost of training. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

Cade Clark, vice-president of government affairs for Helicopter Association International, said members of the Virginia-based organization are looking at how to educate high school students about the industry.

"How do we reach out to high school kids, let them know that this industry is wide open and available for them? And as we bring in new students, how do we help them through that pipeline?" he said.

• Grand Manan medevac company grounded, military helicopter called in to transport patient

Clark said the helicopter pilot shortage is not unique to Canada, and is being felt south of the border and around the world.

A spokesperson for the Virginia State Police told CBC News that in August 2022, it reduced air ambulance service at one of its bases from 24/7 to 16 hours a day due to the pilot shortage. It is on track to return to round-the-clock service in mid-March.

"When we're not available, the public suffers — and that's a pretty black-and-white issue," Clark said.

"When we're not available, the public suffers — and that's a pretty black-and-white issue."- Cade Clark, Helicopter Association International

"We are truly life-saving, and so when vertical aviation is not available to service the public, there are real-world consequences.... Our operators are taking this very seriously as we look as an industry at how to address this issue."

McGill University's Gradek said air ambulance services are expanding across the country, and there will be even higher demand for pilots.

"Unfortunately, we may be in a situation where we have to ration the availability of ambulance pilots to, in fact, kind of temper the growth that the provincial governments want to see in air ambulance services," he said.

Fierce competition

Helicopter pilot Ryan Shrives, who has 24 years of experience under his belt, has flown with HALO Air Ambulance in Medicine Hat, Alta., for about three and a half years. He's previously flown for the South African Air Force and the United Nations.

Competition for pilots right now is so fierce that Shrives regularly gets headhunted.

"Five years ago, you were begging. You would be handing out CVs, trying to beg for a job," he said.

 

Helicopter pilot Ryan Shrives, who has flown with HALO Air Ambulance in Medicine Hat, Alta., for more than three years, says he regularly gets calls from other medevac companies looking for pilots. (Kory Siegers/CBC)

"Nowadays, if you've got experience, if you've got time on the aircraft and a lot of training in different fields, the guys are calling you weekly. I've had other medevac companies — and I'm not lying when I say — they call us weekly."

Paul Carolan, the chief executive of HALO, said the helicopter service lost seven pilots in the last couple of years: four to other air ambulance operators and three who left the industry.

• Ornge helicopter struck by lasers during takeoff, landing

"If the call comes in right now, we have to be prepared to go. So having those people on-site and ready is always a factor, and it's a fundamental part of who we are," Carolan said. "So it's not that it's harder, but it certainly makes things a bit more complicated."

The organization has replaced the pilots it lost, but Carolan said recruitment is constantly top of mind.

Medical equipment is shown inside a HALO air ambulance. The helicopter service lost seven pilots in the last couple of years: four to other air ambulance operators and three who left the industry. They've since been replaced, but the organization says recruitment is a priority. (Kory Siegers/CBC)

"We're looking at every opportunity and talking to every person and trying to make sure that we stay competitive in an extremely competitive market," he said.

"There is only one position that matters when it comes to what we do, and that is the ability to fly the aircraft. Whether you have clinicians in the back, it doesn't matter if you can't get them there."