The Pilot Survey 2020 - GOOSE Recruitment · THE SURVEY The survey was designed for pilots of all...

The Pilot Survey 2020

#thepilotsurvey2020

#thepilotsurvey2020 #thepilotsurvey20202 3

Contents Welcome

Welcome from GOOSE Recruitment and FlightGlobal 3

Introduction 5

Demographics 8

What matters most to pilots in their careers? 10

Stress in the cockpit 12

Mental health 16

Pilot job security 20

Pilot retention 21

Longevity in the cockpit 22

Pilot referral 23

Will technology replace pilots? 24

Which is the best airline to work for? 26

Conclusion 27

GOOSE Recruitment is the name in aviation and pilot recruitment. GOOSE is part of the Faststream Recruitment Group, employing over 100 people and with a history spanning from 1999. GOOSE operates across global hubs in the EMEA, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, servicing their customers, including pilots, aviation professionals and airlines, across the world.

The goose is synonymous with long-distance flying and incredible teamwork. This aptly represents the foundations of GOOSE Recruitment – an incredible team of recruiters striving to be the very best in the industry, here for the long-term and spanning the globe.

Our parent company, the Faststream Recruitment Group is a global people specialist in shipping, maritime and offshore oil and gas recruitment. We know what it is to be truly specialist in a generalist recruitment marketplace.

www.goose-recruitment.com

FlightGlobal, part of DVV Media, is the world’s leading aerospace publisher and content provider delivering professional publications, special reports and online news and analysis. Alongside its media products, FlightGlobal offers an aviation jobs board and a series of conferences and events staged around the world.

FlightGlobal publishes leading weekly Flight International, which marked its 110th anniversary in 2019, and established monthly boardroom title Airline Business which enters its 35th year in 2020. Flightglobal.com is the industry’s most visited and trusted website featuring breaking news, analysis and opinion across industry sectors, as well as a variety of long-form and multimedia content.

FlightGlobal’s well established recruitment portfolio Flight Jobs, is the home of the best aviation & aerospace jobs and careers advice that helps recruiters match with aviation professionals across the globe through an online jobs service, providing tailored solutions and recruitment plans to achieve greater business success.

www.flightglobal.com jobs.flightglobal.com

PHOTOGRAPHS: Shutterstock and Unsplash


Introduction

Mark CharmanCEO & Founder of GOOSE Recruitment

Mark is the CEO of GOOSE Recruitment and founded parent company, Faststream Recruitment Group, in 1999. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in recruiting in high-demand, skill short sectors globally, and he is bringing these new ideas to the pilot recruitment market. As a Fellow of the Recruitment and Employment Federation, he is a renowned thought-leader in specialist recruitment. Mark’s involvement as a speaker, panellist and writer provides a head hunters perspective into human factors in the workplace.

The global aviation market is experiencing some of the biggest changes the industry has ever seen. The last decade has seen an exponential uptick in demand for air travel. Today’s consumers, both individuals and businesses, demand air travel to meet their expectations of being faster, more convenient, and with more options and destinations readily available at the right price.

The reliance on airlines to meet these ever-increasing demands for air travel is more vital than ever, particularly in growing markets such as the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and China where the speed of demand for air travel outweighs the supply of experienced pilots.

There has been much talk over the last few years around pilot recruitment and countless salary surveys published. However, there has been limited coverage on the wider thoughts and feelings of pilots and their views of the aviation industry as a whole. The partnership of GOOSE Recruitment and FlightGlobal has opened up an opportunity to create a unique annual survey to expose, highlight and establish a new benchmark across a number of topics including: health and wellbeing, career

performance and pay, job seeking and job satisfaction and engagement.

The data collected in this survey represents a huge cross-section of the marketplace. Many airlines may recognise the breakdown from their own flightcrew.

The aim of this report is to uncover the good and the bad of the industry, looking at being a pilot from an employment perspective and discovering where the industry excels and where it falls short.

It covers areas such as: what do pilots prioritise in their working life? Are pilots under excessive pressure to do their job? Is management trusted and respected? Is the sector still as attractive as it once was? Which airlines are perceived as the most attractive to work for? Do pilots think they will be replaced by autonomous technology? And just how long do pilots plan to spend working in what has historically been an industry of fly-to-retirement careers? These are just a few of the questions which are so unique to the industry and ones that only pilots themselves will be able to answer.

Sophie WildDirector of Content Partnerships & Recruitment Portfolio at FlightGlobal

Sophie is the Director of the recruitment portfolio for FlightGlobal part of DVV and has worked for the business for over a decade. Sophie’s love of aviation started long before this with her first foot into the world of aviation as cabin crew for Virgin Atlantic. Since then Sophie has seen a lot of changes to the industry in what is a relatively short space of time for such a well-established sector and prides herself on staying up to date with the evolving market. This enables Sophie to use this wealth of experience to advise clients and jobseekers on how to best further their recruitment and career strategies.

Welcome continued


Methodology

THE SURVEY

The survey was designed for pilots of all ranks to take part including captains, first officers, second officers and cadets.

All respondents answered the questions anonymously online using Survey Monkey, an industry-leading survey platform. Pilots were asked 25 questions each and all answers were held as strictly confidential and the answers were not linked to any personal data.

DATA GATHERING

We promoted the survey using the following activities:

◆ FlightGlobal and Flight Jobs websites

◆ GOOSE Recruitment website

◆ Flight International adverts

◆ Targeted emails to pilots known to GOOSE Recruitment and FlightGlobal

◆ Pilot forums, including PPrune

◆ Pilot careers targeted emails

◆ Aviation Tribune jobs board

◆ Aviation Tribune aviation news website

◆ Social media, including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook (including pilot groups)

The Pilot Survey 2020 was open for four weeks and closed on 1 November 2019. A total of 1,336 pilots took part in the survey, which exceeded our target of 1,000.

DATA ANALYSIS

The responses from the survey were analysed to identify the most important trends and points of interest in the research. In addition, our experts around the world have reviewed the data to ensure that it reflects the realities of their local markets as well as global trends.

We believe that the combination of the survey’s unique scale and reach and our market expertise means that this report delivers a representative view of trends and opportunities in employment and remuneration in our industry, right across the world.

Please note, quotes from pilots represent their thoughts and views and not those of GOOSE Recruitment and FlightGlobal.


Demographics

Captain

62%

First Officer

28%

Second Officer

2% Cadet

8%

RANK

THIS WORLD MAP DEMONSTRATES THE BREAKDOWN OF RESPONDENTS BY FLYING REGION

THESE CHARTS ILLUSTRATE THE RESPONDENTS BY RANK, AGE, FLYING HOURS AND GENDER

25 – 34

20%

35 – 44

28%

45 – 54

30%

65 plus years old

2%

Under 24 years old

4%

55 – 64

16%

AGE

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

Captain First Officer

Middle Eastand Africa

Asia-Pacific China Europe North America South America

Ave

rag

e Sa

lary

(USD

)

10,001 plus

39%

5001 – 10,000

25%

2001 – 5000

15%

501 – 2,000

11%

0 – 500

10%

FLYING HOURS

Male

96%

Female

3%

Prefer not to say

1%

GENDER

SOUTH AMERICA

ASIA-PACIFIC

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

NORTH AMERICA

EUROPE

CHINA

4%

21%

18%

13%

43%

1%

AVERAGE SALARY BY FLYING REGION


What matters most to pilots in their careers? For the first time in pilot survey history, we asked pilots what their priorities were when considering a flying job. Five factors were provided to rank from the most important to the least: company culture, training, career development, salary and work-life balance.

this going forward, along with balancing the needs and wants of older, established pilots.

“We have seen some Middle Eastern airlines actively putting this into place with a lot of success. Instead of trying to suit each individual’s needs, they have created their own culture where pilots from different generations and cultures can work more harmoniously together,” says Charman.

The survey tells us that a pilot at the start of their career will have totally different priorities to older, more experienced pilots. This is their time to simply build hours. Once these hours are built along with commercial flying experience, it will enable them to have more career choices open to them.

In Asia-Pacific and China, pilots flying in these regions (not necessarily their native country) ranked career development as their second priority. It is in these developing regions where many airlines are expanding quickly that pilots are having the opportunity to develop their career quicker than in developed markets, such as North America and Europe.

Charman says: “We have seen examples in developed markets where pilots are having to work 15 years plus as a first officer before they are considered for a captain role. They also need to be successful in personality profiling and receive recommendations from their captains. More pilots are relocating to developing markets, where airlines are growing and have huge demands for flightcrew. The expansion of the airline means that many pilots have a greater and faster chance of promotion than they would by staying in an airline in a developed market. It is

no surprise that pilots in these regions rank career development so highly when they are considering flying jobs”

However, in time if this trend continues, it will be the developed markets that reap the benefits of these newly promoted captains if they decide to come home. This could create a bigger issue in the long run with a top-heavy flightcrew and will make it even harder for first officers to be promoted. It also has huge implications on airlines in developing markets to manage the pipeline of new pilots coming through.

Do female pilots have different priorities than males? While females still ranked work-life balance and salary as their top factors, they ranked training as their third priority. Males ranked this as their lowest priority. We can only hypothesise why this might be. Are females feeling the pressure to be more trained, more qualified than their male counterparts? Are females finding it difficult in the workplace? Do they feel under more pressure? There has been much talk about women in a number of careers feeling that they need to prove themselves by being more qualified with more experience than males to prove themselves in their work. Is the career of a female pilot any different?

From a pilot attraction point of view, airlines that are able to promote what is important to the majority of pilots will be key. With so many different needs, the airlines that most effectively promote their employer brand, bringing together these top priorities and knowing what to sell and to who, have the potential to be able to attract the best pilot talent in the future.

FLYING JOB PRIORITIES ALL PILOTS

HIG

HES

T PR

IOR

ITY LO

WEST

PRIO

RITY

Work-life balance

Salary Company culture

Training Career development

FLYING JOB PRIORITIES UNDER 24 YEARS OLD

Company culture

Career development

Salary Training Work-life balance

Overall, pilots rated work-life balance as the most important factor. But what does work-life balance really mean? Wikipedia defines it as “the lack of opposition between work and other life roles. It is the state of equilibrium in which demands of personal life, professional life, and family life are equal.”

For pilots, this could have a number of interpretations. It could mean going home to their family every evening or, it might be focused on having more consecutive days off. It might even be that a new roster made up of night operations just does not work for their personal life.

Mark Charman says: “Pilots are looking for a positive work-life balance – this does not mean that they don’t want to work hard, rather they don’t want it to negatively affect their home life overall.”

Did work-life balance matter 10, 20 or even 30 years ago? Unfortunately, this isn’t something we can question in retrospect but if it didn’t matter then, why has it become such a priority now?

Unlike other modern occupations, pilots will never have the luxury of flexi-time or homeworking due to the nature of the role, so how can airlines make work-life balance work in the role?

It is important to remember that work-life balance is subjective and will mean different things to different pilots.

It would be unrealistic to ask airlines to take the time to speak to and understand each individual to recognise it and meet the requirements. This would have huge implications on how rosters would be created and planned, as well as whether it would require additional personnel.

“With salary only ranking in the second position as a priority, airlines may not need to pay pilots more, but simply give them better work-life balance,” says Charman.

What the survey did tell us is that work-life balance was ranked higher by older, more experienced pilots than by those who were at the start of their careers. In fact, pilots who were under 24 years old ranked their flying job priorities completely differently.

There has been much talk in the media about new generations such as Millennials and Generation Z having different needs and wants in the workplace in comparison to previous generations. New generation pilots are no different. Ranking company culture and career development as their highest priorities was not a revelation to us.

“Young Pilots are of a ‘Google generation’. They want to live the brand and to work somewhere meaningful – they don’t want just a job,” notes Charman.

New generations have the potential to enter the workplace and question the norm. The issue is how airlines manage

HIG

HES

T PR

IOR

ITY LO

WEST

PRIO

RITY


Stress in the cockpit

Aviation is regarded as a high-consequence industry, based on the fact that if pilots make a mistake or something goes wrong with the aircraft, the consequences can be catastrophic. This has the potential to be a highly stressful environment to work in, but do the pilots feel stressed themselves?

What the commentary from these pilots says to us is that they are experiencing high levels of emotion and frustration.

◆ “Management is driven by service delivery at the cost of professional standards.”

◆ “Poor level of support provided by management. Lip service paid to rosters and lifestyle issues.”

◆ “Too high hours. Terrible company attitude to fatigue.”

◆ “Lack of support for front line workers. Reliance on goodwill.”

◆ “They try to save money where they should not and waste it many other places.”

PILOTS FLYING IN EUROPE ARE THE MOST STRESSED BY ROTATIONS

Europe is a high pressure, crowded air space, but are management being realistic in the demands of the

rotations they are placing on pilots and their fleet? We asked the pilots for their own personal experience and commentary on why rotations were a stress factor. Based on this, pilots who were stressed about rotations shared common thoughts focused around how short the turnaround times were, that in turn led to fatigue and stress.

◆ “Missing departure slots and taking hours of delay for reasons outside the flightcrew’s control is extremely frustrating and leads to a very stressed crew. When this happens on a regular basis in a busy summer schedule it leads to stress and fatigue.”

◆ “Unachievable turn around times and delays for which we receive no compensation.”

◆ “In my airline, there is a transition in having bigger aircraft in different routes, so we’re seeing bigger aircraft out onto minimum turn around times for an aircraft that is usually smaller. This then has a domino effect for the rest of the day.”

◆ “Short turnaround times put pressure on safety and on-time performance.”

◆ “25 minutes isn’t enough!”

◆ “Exhausting duties and very limited time to rest in between.”

European air space is a very tight system. If only 25 minutes is being allowed for the turnaround and something goes wrong, and airlines plan for 100% occupancy this will always go bad – it is clearly causing pilots to be stressed. The pressure is leading to fatigue and this should be a major concern for the industry as a whole.

In our experience, it is not uncommon that when flying on evening flights in Europe there is a delay– usually due to the airport and airline catching up on a hold-up from earlier in the day.

Sophie Wild agreed: “These delays create continued stress for pilots of having to reschedule, rework, and sort things out. Their original plan of timings to leave that airport has gone out the window. They now have to talk with air traffic control, negotiate with the

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Safety

Passengers

Management

Rotations

Commute

12%

5%

29%

13%

41%

Stress factors

Perc

enta

ge o

f Pilo

ts

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL MOST STRESSED AT WORK?

We asked pilots how they would rate their stress level from 1 to 5 (1 being not stressed and 5 being very stressed) on a normal working day. Overall, pilots answered at an average of 2.5 – moderately stressed. However, 10% of the survey participants refused to answer the question which made us question why?

With a pilot’s flight status dependent on their mental health and with stress being a major contributor to this, we believe that some pilots might have felt this question was too sensitive for them to answer. Notably, captains and pilots flying in Europe were less likely to answer this question. We can only speculate that those at the rank of captain felt that they had more to lose by answering a stress-based question.

Pilots flying in the Middle East and Africa were the most stressed with 18% of captains and 22% of first officers rating their stress at 4 or 5 (very stressed).

North America was the least stressed flying region with no pilots rating their stress level at 5 and more than any other region answering at 1 (not stressed).

We pressed further and asked pilots to pick the one aspect that made them feel the most stressed at work out of five factors: safety, passengers, management, rotations or commute.

The age group and where pilots were flying influenced their biggest stress factor with some thought-provoking commentary.

PILOTS AGED 45-54 ARE THE MOST STRESSED BY MANAGEMENT

Pilots in this age group make up some of the most experienced pilots that took part in the survey. These pilots would have flown through significant changes in the industry, for example, the subject of fuel economy. When many of these pilots started flying they would never have really considered it; the priority would have been to fly safely from A to B. Today they are under increasing pressure from management to minimise fuel consumption and changes like this along with other new rules and regulations has potentially influenced their more jaded view of management.


airport for another space, plus management might be on their case about having to try and make up the time.”

Are low-cost airlines that dominate the European market to blame? These carriers will be aiming to fly 13 hours per day and will crew for this level. However, part of the low-cost model has always been to try and squeeze in an extra rotation every day to ensure the business remains profitable.

Or, is it simply the congested air space of Europe and the pressure from airports that is to blame for these 25-minute turnarounds?

PILOTS FLYING IN CHINA, THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA ARE THE MOST STRESSED BY MANAGEMENT

These three market places are the most rapidly expanding markets in aviation, where we are seeing more frequently ex-pat pilots relocate for the opportunities on offer in expanding airlines. The commentary we received from pilots had much focus on the culture management were creating.

◆ “Don’t feel that management understand or support the pilots. Are looking to blame pilots without realizing how their actions contribute to a culture that leads to mistakes.”

◆ “Fear culture present in the operation.”

◆ “The culture that has been instilled from the top tier

management is not conducive to optimal operation.

Blame culture mixed with a very real demonstration

of money over safety forces a very uneconomical and

inefficient operation which leads to blaming and the

cycle continues.”

◆ “Management’s non-compliance with agreements.

Management’s general dislike of pilots. Management’s

unwillingness to listen to good ideas on how things could

be done better or more efficiently.”

◆ “Fear of getting fired.”

◆ “It is a reporting culture... My workday revolves

around not screwing up and if I do make sure my

management does not find out because if they do I have

to spend my day off justifying it and potentially losing

my job.”

Our final word on the subject is that chronic levels

of stress can negatively impact a person’s health, job

performance and cognitive functioning. These are all

key factors in the work of a pilot. Would you want to

be flying with an overly stressed pilot in command? No,

neither would we.

THE CULTURE THAT HAS BEEN INSTILLED FROM THE TOP TIER MANAGEMENT IS NOT CONDUCIVE TO OPTIMAL OPERATION. BLAME CULTURE MIXED WITH A VERY REAL DEMONSTRATION OF MONEY OVER SAFETY FORCES A VERY UNECONOMICAL AND INEFFICIENT OPERATION WHICH LEADS TO BLAMING AND THE CYCLE CONTINUES. SURVEY RESPONDENT

Stress in the cockpit continued


Mental health

In the last decade, there has been a noticeable shift in attitude towards mental health. Thanks to the emergence of social media and the growing coverage in the mainstream media, the once taboo subject no longer has such a prominent stigma attached to it. It is imperative that we move mental health to the forefront of conversation topics in aviation.

airlines themselves that this is at the top of their agenda. However, what we are seeing from pilots in this survey is that they don’t feel this is transitioning through to the front line. The communication is not working.

So, management is taking this very seriously and could be putting trained mental health first aiders in place at head office. However, how can pilots access this very necessary resource when they will rarely go there due to the nature of their job? We also need to consider how management would know someone was suffering from a mental health problem unless the pilot told them directly.

Pilots have the potential to be flying with different collegues every day, especially in larger airlines. They may never have met each other before. In an office environment, it might be easy to notice that Roger isn’t

acting quite himself. But if no one knows you, how would they know if you are behaving out of sorts? We also ponder that if a captain was acting strangely or erratically, the chain of command in flying means it would be very unlikely that a first officer would question them or even mention the behaviour to someone else.

Are there reporting systems in place for flightcrew to confidentially register any concerns? And what would be the repercussions of doing so? They would be putting another pilot at risk of being grounded just because they weren’t acting as they perceived they should be. Clearly, this might just be how someone is all of the time and so they are not behaving out of character.

Good mental health is of high importance in a safety-critical job. We saw the tragic incident five years ago where 150 people lost their lives due to the mental

Yes

41%No

59%

DO YOU FEEL YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER CARES ABOUT YOUR WELLBEING?

We asked pilots if they felt their current employer cares about their well-being. Resoundingly, pilots perceived that they did not, with 59% saying no. In particular, those flying in the Middle East and Africa felt less cared about, with 75% saying no. These regions are operating in a fast-growth market and there is potential that management’s focus is on expansion, rather than their people. In our opinion, airlines operating in a market of exponential growth should surely be making more effort to be better to employees, and to show how much they care to aid the attraction of more good people. Retention is going to be key for them. No one wants the reputation as the airline that doesn’t care in a highly competitive recruitment market.

Noticeably cadets and second officers in Asia-Pacific and North America were much more positive in their perception, voting from 60-100% that they believed management cared. Is this down to a more rose-tinted view of the world early in their pilot careers or are they more perceptive to the signals from their employer?

It was some of the most experienced pilots that felt the least cared about with 63.5% of 35 – 54 years olds saying no, they didn’t perceive their employer to care about their well-being. This age group will hold a profile dominated by captains. This could be considered counterintuitive by airlines if they are making their most valuable, sought after employees feel unvalued. At this rank, they will be being paid at a higher than average level. Is the issue that airlines are paying these pilots a lot of money, so what more do they want?

We probed further on the subject of mental health and asked if pilots were encouraged by their employer to talk about their mental health. 65% said no.

“Mental health is not about good or bad. It is about creating a positive workplace culture where it is ok to talk about mental health and to share best practises throughout the business,” said Wild.

If pilots are working in an environment where they aren’t encouraged to talk about this important subject and their mental health deteriorates, what do they do and who do they speak to?

We must consider though, the practicalities of managing mental health in airlines. We have heard from the


Mental health in the cockpit continued

health issues of a pilot. Should we not have seen more progress towards employers encouraging pilots to talk about the subject?

Captains flying in the Middle East and Africa (78%), China (79%) and South America (75%) had a particularly poor view of their employer encouraging them to talk about mental health.

We then asked pilots if they would feel able to speak to their employer if they were experiencing a mental health issue. 63% said no. This is a catch 22 if employers aren’t encouraging this discussion then it is clear that pilots feel less confident to open up the dialogue. Evidently, there is a lot of improvement to be made here.

“Many pilots would feel fearful of opening up about a mental health issue they were experiencing to their employer. With the potential to be grounded by speaking out, who is going to take that risk?” said Wild.

The key to good mental health is by talking about it openly and honestly, as well as picking up any issues early on. Would providing anonymous mental health services be beneficial to pilots? They wouldn’t have to risk their careers by talking to their employers

directly, but their employers could be providing a service to help them.

However, the duty of care will come into this at some point. If a counsellor is working with a pilot who is feeling suicidal for example, there will come a point where they will have to make the employer aware of this, certainly before their next flight.

There are set procedures in place in airlines for other health-related illnesses and injuries and a set back to work system will be in place. If employers could get to the point where mental health was more openly spoken about and new policies were put in place to help pilots through these times this would be a positive step forward. However, if a pilot had been experiencing significant mental health-related issues and had been grounded, what would the implications be of sending them back to fly?

Mental health issues can show in many different forms from anxiety and depression to alcohol and drug dependency to eating disorders to name just a few. The most important thing is that pilots feel that they can talk about anything that is bothering them, knowing they have the support of their employer with policies in place to help them deal with things.

MANY PILOTS WOULD FEEL FEARFUL OF OPENING UP ABOUT A MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE THEY WERE EXPERIENCING TO THEIR EMPLOYER. WITH THE POTENTIAL TO BE GROUNDED BY SPEAKING OUT, WHO IS GOING TO TAKE THAT RISK? SOPHIE WILD


An area of particular concern for airlines operating in North America is that 16% of pilots will retire over the next two years. Although this is certainly not a shock and has been reported widely already, this market is surely heading for trouble.

What might be more surprising for operators in China is that 13% of their flightcrew will retire over the next two years.

“We put this down to the high percentage of ex-pat pilots flying in China. They have been attracted to the region for the high salaries on offer. This is their last opportunity to make a serious amount of money before they stop flying altogether,” suggests Wild.

We will also see a huge demand for experienced captains across all regions over the next two years, with 12% confirming their retirement in this period. Airlines will need to have started planning the future fallout of those in command with recruitment drives to feed the bottom of the pipeline, while also focusing on internal training and development to enable first officers to earn their extra stripes.

We now know who is retiring, but who is changing job in the next two years? Females (52%) were more likely than males (44%) to change jobs in this period. We have previously noted that females experience more job insecurity. This might be increasing their desire for other opportunities on offer to limit the risk. However, it could also be because females are in demand. They may be more actively headhunted and have the pick of airlines, as management focuses on better diversity in their flightcrews. Or, do females simply not feel part of the ‘boys club’ and are seeking opportunities outside of the industry?

Operators in the Middle East and Africa will experience a flightcrew who are more actively job-seeking. 50% of pilots flying in this region will be considering changing jobs in the next two years. These regions will need to focus on better retention strategies as well as how their future candidate attraction plans will enable feeding the future pipeline required for this loss of pilots.

Pilot job security Pilot retention

In an industry where the demand for pilots is at a record level, we were shocked that over half of pilots who took part in the survey had been concerned about their job security in the last two years.

Yes

FemaleMale

No

58%

52%

42%

48%0 10 20 30 40 50 60

AT ANY POINT IN THE LAST TWO YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN WORRIED ABOUT YOUR JOB SECURITY

“We don’t believe that pilots are worried about the role of the pilot per se, but more concerned with the state of the current industry,” said Charman.

With numerous airlines announcing closures in 2019, including legacy carrier Thomas Cook, as well as many closures in 2018, perhaps it is not so surprising that pilots are feeling nervous about their jobs. In an already fragile market, is a ‘fear culture’ being created and are pilots thinking ‘who’s next?’.

The most concerned age group were those aged 45-54; 55% said they were concerned. Charman notes: “These are potentially one of the most experienced groups of pilots we surveyed and yet are more worried than younger age groups. It might be the case that they have seen more airlines announce closures in the last two years than in their whole career history.”

Pilots flying in North America were the least concerned about their job security; only 30% were worried. We speculate that they feel more secure in their jobs because in many cases demand outweighs the supply of experienced pilots.

We wanted to highlight that female pilots (58%) were more concerned about their job security than males

(52%). We must question why airlines wouldn’t be doing everything they can to make female pilots feel secure in their role as they are so scarce. However, we know that many airlines have and continue to proactively hire more female pilots to work towards a better gender diversity balance. Is this concern simply down to market perception or are female pilots more concerned in general?

We don’t know what the market holds in 2020. We could see more airlines close as competition mounts, but we are very interested to see if more airlines close how this will affect pilots perception of job security.

0

10

20

30

40

50

Retire Change jobs

Stay put

8%

44%

48%

DO YOU PLAN TO CHANGE JOBS OR RETIRE IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS

If levels of job insecurity are high, what impact does this have on the pilot recruitment market? We asked pilots whether in the next two years they would retire, change jobs or stay put. Over half of pilots said they were either planning on retiring or changing jobs.


REGARDLESS THAT I NOW HAVE A WELL-PAID JOB, A GOOD ROSTER, WITH EXCELLENT CONDITIONS, AND GREAT COLLEAGUES, A TOTALLY NEW CAREER OUTSIDE AVIATION SEEMS VERY APPEALING TO ME AS WELL. SURVEY RESPONDENT

Longevity in the cockpit

Given the huge investment to become a pilot we were surprised that only 71% of pilots agreed they would fly to retirement age. We are already facing an industry-wide issue of a shortage of experienced pilots in the market, let alone a future potential issue of pilots not flying to retirement age.

In particular, 46% of captains flying in China, 44% of first officers in the Middle East and Africa and 37% of 25 to 34-year-olds will not fly to retirement age.

What is clear is that this number represents a potential change in forecasting for pilot recruitment teams. If recruiters are finding it tough now, they are going to find it harder in the future as less fly to retirement age and demand for air travel continues.

Charman says: “Pilot recruitment teams will need to consider looking more deeply into their actual people. Retention rates will need to be considered in a different way, taking into consideration those who will retire, those who will leave to fly for other airlines as well as those who will not fly to retirement age.”

There could be a number of reasons for this. Younger pilots may be more disillusioned that they will earn enough money to retire from flying at a younger age. In particular, research into millennials and Generation Z have found that

Pilot referral

We wanted to find out if those surveyed would choose a pilot career again if they had the chance. Again, 71% agreed that they would. Those flying in South America (96%), North America (81%) and China (80%) were the most likely to repeat their career choice. Those flying in Europe were less likely, with only 67% agreeing.

Taking this further we enquired whether they would recommend a career as a pilot to young people and fewer pilots would. Only 57% concurred. Has the life of a pilot lost its glamour? In particular, captains were less likely to recommend (53%) and those flying in Europe (53%).

The commentary from the pilots themselves highlighted how the changes in the industry in recent years has made the career less enjoyable than what it once was:

◆ “It is not worthy: aviation is the only environment where you must prove every six months that you are able to do your job.”

◆ “The lustre of airline flying from the ‘80s and ‘90s has disappeared. Companies have driven up flying hours with minimum time off, cumulative fatigue contributing to mental health and wellness.”

◆ “The pressure for efficiency from all airlines has changed the industry too far from a work-life balance point of view. I feel constantly tired, sometimes fatigued but feel undue pressure from my employer if I speak up. I am guiding my sons away from a career in aviation as I feel now employees are being exploited beyond what is reasonable.”

◆ “I would not encourage anyone to pay for pilot training because the jobs are few and far between, most jobs are going to be and are now out to contracts for six months where they want you to fly a year’s hours in six months and then not pay you for the other six months when you have no work.”

◆ “Airlines see pilots as consumables and as a cost. Considering the amount of training and assessment involved, we should have much better job security and stability. Pilots should be on the same level as doctors, not seen as a cost to the airline.”

◆ “Flying is driven by productivity. We are now pushing pilots beyond the limits of their endurance. Fatigue is affecting every pilot in my company. Fatigue is the new normal.”

◆ “Aviation is a very expensive and demanding career. The financial investment and personal sacrifices made as an individual are extensive just to be met with further measures put in place to make finding a job or progressing in fleet and or companies a lot more difficult in the name of sourcing the best candidates.“

IT IS NOT WORTHY: AVIATION IS THE ONLY ENVIRONMENT WHERE YOU MUST PROVE EVERY SIX MONTHS THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO DO YOUR JOB. SURVEY RESPONDENT

Yes

71%

No

29%

WILL YOU FLY TO RETIREMENT AGE?

they expect to have a number of different careers in their lifetime. They simply might not see that after training to become a pilot that they will do this forever.

“A ‘job for life’ might not be realistic anymore,” says Charman.

Or are pilots feeling more burnt out at a younger stage in their career? We have already mentioned that pilots are feeling fatigued by the pressures of the job and perhaps they just don’t think they can keep going to retirement age. We wonder if airlines looked more at work-life balance and some of the stress factors pilots have cited that more pilots might reconsider flying to retirement age.

◆ “I’m 50 years old and plan to go part-time as soon as possible and have brought my retirement plans forward by about seven years. I keep myself fit but feel my health is suffering from stress levels and the relentless nature of the modern working patterns.”

◆ “Regardless that I now have a well-paid job, a good roster, with excellent conditions, and great colleagues, a totally new career outside aviation seems very appealing to me as well.”

#thepilotsurvey202024

We asked pilots “Are you concerned that autonomous technology is making the role of pilots redundant in the cockpit?” Four in 10 pilots answered that they were. Does this reflect a perhaps unjustified or exaggerated fear that the role of the pilot could become redundant in the near future? Or at least that a move to single-pilot cockpits could drastically reduce demand for their skills?

Yes

45%No

55%

DO YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE BECOMING OVERLY DEPENDENT ON FLIGHT DECK AUTOMATION?

ARE YOU CONCERNED THAT AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY IS MAKING THE ROLE OF PILOTS REDUNDANT IN THE COCKPIT?

Yes

40%No

60%

“Despite a lot of talk five years ago about single-pilot cockpits becoming a reality in the 2020s or 2030s, starting with freighters before moving onto passenger airlines, there has been little progress towards this. The issue seems to have gone off the boil. However, we believe there is some real concern in the pilot community, reflected in the response from pilots to this question,” said FlightGlobal Safety Editor David Learmount.

The reality is that modern aircraft are too complicated not to be automated in some way.

We also wanted to find out whether pilots felt they were becoming overly dependent on flight deck automation. A total of 45.5% believed that they were. While this is still a minority, it reflects a genuine concern among pilots that today’s cockpits and an over-reliance on technology are “robbing them of their core skills”.

Learmount added: “Cognitive skills are fading. In a modern cockpit, raw data is difficult to see, unlike the days of steam dials. The technology is so reliable and so rarely goes wrong that pilots feel that, even though they know they should be checking the raw data, they don’t.”

Pilots can be concerned about losing hand-to-eye coordination, but this rarely degrades over the course of a career. What do degrade are cognitive skills and “you don’t know it’s happening”, said Learmount.

“I believe that overall, cockpit automation has made flying safer. Mistakes caused by pilots taking the wrong decisions in real-life crises – even if they have been trained to handle them in the simulator – are behind most loss of control in-flight incidents, the single largest contributor to airliner accidents,” he concluded.

Airlines could consider putting more emphasis on “personality” when recruiting pilots and not just core experience or skill. Worries about declining core skills impact pilots’ self-confidence, and this contributes to rising levels of stress (see the section on stress).

Effect of aircraft technology on the role of the pilot?


Which is the best airline to work for?With competition for the best pilot talent tougher than ever, we wanted to find out the carriers our respondents perceived as the best employers.

Pilots were only able to make one choice out of a large number of national, regional and international carriers. National carriers dominated the top 10 whilst no low-cost carriers were represented.

The clear winner was the flag carrier and largest German airline, Lufthansa. It was perceived overall as the best airline to work for across all age groups, rank, flying regions and genders.

The top 10 was dominated by legacy carriers but two

disruptor brands stood out in the mix: Emirates and Virgin Atlantic.

Virgin Atlantic has a fun, young brand image perception, yet is considerably smaller than other airlines featured in the top 10. Backed by an inspirational leader, Richard Branson, he is often quoted with sentiments such as: “Customers do not come first. Employees come first. If you take good care of your employees, they will take care of the customers.” We wonder whether this type of declaration has had an impact on the young brand landing the third position in the best airlines to work for?

Emirates is renowned for its generous lifestyle and benefits package, where pilots are offered competitive salaries alongside premium accommodation, healthcare, education for children and discounts in the local area. Do pilots value a better lifestyle over other factors we ponder?

Conclusion

As businesses operating in the aviation industry, we eagerly anticipate what the future will bring. In times to come, we may see huge changes in how airlines operate and recruit. We consider:

◆ Will work-life balance become the norm for pilots?

◆ Will pilots speak freely to their employer of their mental health concerns?

◆ Will more pilots cut their careers short before retirement age?

◆ Will China remain a lucrative option for experienced ex-pats?

TOP 10 PERCEIVED BEST AIRLINES TO WORK FOR

1

3

7

5

9

2

4

8

6

10

LUFTHANSA

KLM

AIR NEW ZEALAND

VIRGIN ATLANTIC

QANTAS

AIR FRANCE

EMIRATES

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

DELTA

BRITISH AIRWAYS

◆ Will more females enter the profession?

◆ How will new and younger generations change the pilot workforce with different needs and expectations?

◆ Will management and rotations continue to be the biggest stress factors for pilots?

◆ Will we ever enter a time where pilots are replaced with technology?

It has been a privilege to create The Pilot Survey 2020 for the aviation industry and we hope that the insights have been as interesting and enjoyable to read as it has been to produce. Mark and Sophie

2020 is set to be another exciting year for aviation. We hope that the findings from The Pilot Survey 2020 will bring useful insight for airline recruitment teams and will create some hot boardroom topics. Pilots are changing along with the industry they work in.

#thepilotsurvey202028

The Pilot Survey 2020 - GOOSE Recruitment · THE SURVEY The survey was designed for pilots of all...

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