CAE's Marie-Christine Cloutier presents the talent forecast at Paris Air Show.
LE BOURGET—The civil aviation industry will need to hire 400 professionals a day for the next 10 years if it is to keep up with soaring global demand for air travel, according to a new forecast released at the Paris Air Show.
The 2025 Aviation Talent Forecast by Montreal-based simulation and training powerhouse CAE estimates that nearly 1.5 million pilots, aircraft maintenance technicians, cabin crew and air traffic controllers will be needed by 2034 to keep up with growth and replace retiring workers. But specific demands vary by region.
North America has an acute need for technicians, while the Asia-Pacific—where air travel is growing fastest—has pilots at the top of its hiring needs. Europe will lead demand for air traffic controllers due to its fragmented aviation market and aging population.
Demand for aviation professionals “is being driven by record demand for air travel and a significant wave of retirements that is expected across all categories,” says Marie-Christine Cloutier, CAE's vice-president of strategy, performance, air traffic services and marketing.
“With commercial and business aviation fleets expected to see double digit increases over the next 10 years, the industry must take action to attract, train, and retain personnel,” she says.
The forecast, which cites Aviation Week's fleet data, projects the number of commercial aircraft in service will rise from 33,000 today to 44,000 in 2034, while the number of business aircraft is expected to grow from 23,000 to 27,000. That growth, combined with projected retirements over the next decade, means the industry will need to attract 300,000 new pilots, 416,000 technicians, 678,000 cabin crew and 71,000 air traffic controllers.
CAE’s latest 10-year forecast for pilots, technicians and cabin crew shows an 8% rise on the company’s last report two years ago. That study did not include air traffic controllers. Cloutier adds that this year’s forecast assumes that air traffic controllers will become more efficient as AI and other new technologies are implemented.
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