Senior UK Ministers are said to have discussed concerns that the UK Aviation Industry might have trouble recovering from Easter 2022 onwards due to insufficient trained pilots.

Martin Chalk, the acting general secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa), confirmed that the aviation industry also feared a shortage of pilots.

“We have a large number of pilots out of work but, as things speed up and airlines seek to recruit, there is a concern that we might go from a position where we had over-supply of pilots to one where actually sufficient have left the profession that we end up with a shortfall. There is a feeling that, next summer, there may be a shortage of pilots.”

“We are calling on the Government to help airlines re-skill and reinvest in resilience so that particularly next spring, as the work ramps up as we hope it will, there are actually the crew there to fly.”

Balpa is requesting government funding for “resilience training” for pilots grounded during the pandemic, on the basis that airlines’ finances have already been devastated by the pandemic.

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