When it comes to tourism in Hawai‘i, the Asia Pacific is a growth market. Airlines are continuing to increase flights from the region---and that’s creating another challenge. HPR’s Bill Dorman has details in today’s Asia Minute.
Boeing and Airbus are fierce competitors who don’t see eye to eye on a lot…but they agree the Asia Pacific is running short on airline pilots. Both companies forecast the region will be the world’s largest travel market within two decades.
Boeing says airlines in the Asia Pacific will need more than a quarter of a million new pilots by the year 2034. Airbus is taking a direct route toward a solution: setting up a new training center for pilots. This week, Airbus opened its largest training facility in the world—basing it in Singapore, as part of a joint venture with Singapore Airlines.
Airbus says pilots from 17 Asia Pacific airlines have already signed up for training. Boeing also has a training center in Singapore…as well as smaller facilities in Shanghai, South Korea and Australia.
The company says the Asia Pacific is adding 100-million new air passengers each year. Some are coming here—the website Skyscanner.com says 11 Asia Pacific airlines now fly to Hawai‘i. And worldwide, there’s another growth trend underway in the airline industry: women pilots—though starting from a very low base. Bloomberg quotes the chair of the International Society of Women Airline Pilots as saying that women make up about 5% of commercial pilots in the world.
