From pandemic-related travel restrictions to extreme weather events, Canada’s travel industry has navigated an unprecedented amount of uncertainty recently. And now, just as travel demand has returned to its 2019 level, airlines are navigating their next turbulence: a shortage of qualified pilots.
According to Transport Canada, in a typical year before the pandemic, approximately 1,100 pilot licenses were issued. When staffed by foreign-trained pilots, this was generally more than sufficient to meet the needs of major carriers such as WestJet and Air Canada, down to regional, charter and cargo airlines.
But as demand for flights fell in 2020, so did the number of new pilots getting their papers. Government data shows fewer than 500 licenses were issued in 2020, a figure that fell to fewer than 300 in 2021 and just 238 last year.
The department told CBC News in a statement that while labor shortages in the airline sector have been “identified as a priority area for action,” there are no current plans to ease regulations. But the agency says it is doing everything 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 come will not help anyone in the short term, and travelers are already seeing the impact of the current labor crisis in the industry.
Staff shortages were a factor in the cancellation of 67 flights by charter airline Sunwing during the last two weeks of December, along with extreme weather.
Salaries for experienced pilots generally rise faster and higher on major airlines than on most others, so they are usually able to choose between them. This causes shortages almost everywhere else.
The head of the Air Transport Association of Canada says this is a problem that has been around for years, even before the pandemic.
“We haven’t had enough pilots for a long time, mostly regionally,” John McKenna said.
Long and expensive process
Obtaining a commercial license is the final step in a years-long process to become 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 WestJet or Air Canada, but because of the expense and time commitment of training a new pilot, major airlines often hire senior staff from smaller carriers rather than methodically developing their own.
“Their fishing grounds are the regional carriers. And the regional carriers trickle down to the smaller carriers, the air taxi groups … those levels have been damaged for many years,” McKenna said.
Canada’s two largest airlines told CBC News in emailed statements that while there is indeed a higher-than-normal demand for pilots right now, both are managing to meet their needs.
“As a major global carrier operating the most modern, largest aircraft, we are a highly desirable destination for talented pilots,” AIr Canada said. “As a result, we are able to attract pilots as needed.”
“We have and continue to responsibly manage and plan our operations to meet the expected demands of our guests and are fully equipped across our network to support our operation,” WestJet said.
This is not the case for everyone else. Small airlines often have so few pilots on staff that it doesn’t take many losses 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, exacerbating the chaos seen in late 2022. The airline has since canceled almost all flights from Saskatchewan and most out of Manitoba for the rest of the winter travel season.
The pandemic also reduced the numbers
It’s not just the big boys gobbling up all the qualified pilots. Many simply left the profession during the pandemic.
“Two years ago, until today, literally almost every pilot [was] out of a job,” says Dave Boston, a pilot with 25 years of experience who is also the man behind the Edmonton-based aviation job board, the Pilot Career Centre.
Faced with furloughs and furloughs from airlines big and small, many pilots tried to wait it out, but many just 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 remaining pilots, bounty hunting is the new normal. He says he hears from desperate airlines every day because they either can’t find staff or simply lost another one. “It’s very common for pilots, unfortunately, to work there for six months [then] they get a surprise interview that they don’t expect to get, and then they’re gone,” he said.
“It’s a real challenge now.”
One person hoping to meet that challenge is Zona Savic, a soon-to-be graduate of one of Canada’s top aviation schools, Seneca College in Peterborough, Ont.
While she had planned to go into engineering, she joined the Air Cadets when she was in high school and was quickly bitten by the aviation bug.
“I just knew from the moment I got on 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 license soon, and while she may do additional training to become an instructor herself, she says it’s a load off her mind to know she won’t have to worries about finding a job.
And even better for the industry, it has no qualms about continuing its path to smaller carriers flying long-haul 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 Nunavut,” she says. “Anything is good to me, as long as I can experience it.”
