Help wanted: Boeing says airlines need 1 million workers

[Gerald]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Boeing says the airline industry will need to hire more than one million workers over the next 20 years to prepare for a wave of 30,000 new aircraft.

The airlines will need to hire 466,650 pilots and 596,500 maintenance crew workers between 2010 and 2029, the aircraft maker said Thursday.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/16/news/international/boeing_jobs_airline/?section=money_latest





Note:By Aaron Smith, staff writer September 16, 2010: 7:43 AM ET

[SteamWake]

Wait what??

I dont understand this. Why is Boeing suddenly flush with cash?

Or is it to make up for the shortfall because they pay these workers little and treat them like crap?

Oh I see "Over the next 20 years" hrm.. what would be the opposite of cautiously optimistic?

[Zachstar]

Wait what??

I dont understand this. Why is Boeing suddenly flush with cash?

Or is it to make up for the shortfall because they pay these workers little and treat them like crap?

Oh I see "Over the next 20 years" hrm.. what would be the opposite of cautiously optimistic?

A pro-labor post? From you?

[Gerald]

It is relatively well known that the air industry must be renewed in future periods,and that you go out with this in a turbulent time of economic uncertainty, many benefits primarily market and of course Gov.och ultimately they potent workers who can then get a job,Boeing are a leader in many segments which naturally gives, shares the owner an extra boost.

[CCIP]

This is all distant predictions. I personally hope they're true, but a lot of this hangs on the nearer prediction that the economy will recover soon. And that's kind of up in the air at the moment...

But if the wind blows south-south-west... certainly air travel needs to and will have to improve and expand soon!

[Gerald]

This is all distant predictions. I personally hope they're true, but a lot of this hangs on the nearer prediction that the economy will recover soon. And that's kind of up in the air at the moment...

But if the wind blows south-south-west... certainly air travel needs to and will have to improve and expand soon! But what is clear is that the course is South,for travelers

[bradclark1]

Wait what??

I dont understand this. Why is Boeing suddenly flush with cash?

Or is it to make up for the shortfall because they pay these workers little and treat them like crap?

It's paying for the bags and other tac-ons the airlines use. Airlines are starting to turn a profit which translates to more newer aircraft maybe. I know the fleet has aged.

[GoldenRivet]

LOL :nope:

What the airline fat cats need are about one million indentured servants.

[gimpy117]

LOL :nope:

What the airline fat cats need are about one million indentured servants.

yeah. and pay us all 15,000 starting

[TarJak]

OK they have orders to build 30,000 planes over the next 20 years, but are there really going to be 1million new jobs created? No. These new aircarft will replace older existing aircraft and the older existing maintenance and flight crews will retrain on maintaining and flying the new ones and all up you might see a slight increase in the number of people employed in these jobs and yes new blood wil flow into the ranks but a million new. Pfffff what a crock.

[CCIP]

You don't think fleets ought to be expanding?

I mean, I'm not privy to the labour side of the airline industry, but being on the customer side one would hope that they do find ways to grow and expand. I don't think 30,000 is an unreasonable figure. As far as I know, there's about half that number of aircraft in the world's airlines today. If the stables grow by that much, I don't think 1 million is an unexpected figure.

But like I said, distant projections there... the industry is far, far from being over the hill and the job side of it looks to be getting worse, not better for now.

[GoldenRivet]

No "google assist" here.

Care to guess how many new pilots American Airlines has hired in the past 9 years?

[TarJak]

No "google assist" here.

Care to guess how many new pilots American Airlines has hired in the past 9 years?
About as many as it had retrenched before 9/11?

[GoldenRivet]

Zero "new" hires.

You're right - the only "hiring" they have done has been recalling furloughed workers. There are still enough on furlough to meet their staffing needs for perhaps another couple of years.

[TarJak]

Airline management is ALL about capacity management. Fleets will expand to absorb the capacity of the market but no more than that. Unless there is a new untapped market, or there is sudden customer interest in a market for some reason, there is little need for airlines to add sudden increases to their capacity on most of the routes they fly.

If your fleet is getting on, (10-15 years is old in airliner fleet terms), then you need to start replacing those aircraft.

If you are not seeing growth in your markets/routes then why would you add capacity to them? On the other hand if you are seeing growth then you will only add capacity to match that growth and not a seat more. Flying partially empty aircraft is unprofitable as has been demonstrated in the US domestic market for years.

My prediction is that there will be very few "new" hires coming from the expected delivery of the 30,000 planes mentioned in the article. Most of the "new" aircraft will be replacing older aircraft that will either be sold on to replace aging freighters or end up in the Arizona desert parking lots waiting for either a buy or the junk man.

Oh and guess what? Newer aircraft require less maintenance than older ones so in the short term if an airline quickly replaces its aging fleet (say within 3-5 years) then they actually have an opportunity in that time to reduce maintenance staff, until that fleet ages to a point where more frequent maintenance is required.

[GoldenRivet]

Your 100% correct IMEO

[Herr-Berbunch]

Oh and guess what? Newer aircraft require less maintenance than older ones so in the short term if an airline quickly replaces its aging fleet (say within 3-5 years) then they actually have an opportunity in that time to reduce maintenance staff, until that fleet ages to a point where more frequent maintenance is required.

Is that why 466,650 pilots and 596,500 maintenance crew, that's like 15 pilots and 20 ground crew per new plane - I used to be in the RAF so am used to two pilots and about 20 ground crew per plane. With the threat of severe cutbacks though that could either end up as 50 pilots, 5 groundcrew per plane or 1 pilot, 3 groundcrew per 50 planes! :nope:

[GoldenRivet]

realistically though a majority of the new aircraft acquisitions will only serve to replace existing aircraft.

thus, pilots who are currently flying for X airline will be retrained on the new aircraft.

only a very very small - almost insignificant number of pilots will actually be "new" to a given company.

[Gerald]

realistically though a majority of the new aircraft acquisitions will only serve to replace existing aircraft.

thus, pilots who are currently flying for X airline will be retrained on the new aircraft.

only a very very small - almost insignificant number of pilots will actually be "new" to a given company. on the number of pilots in the coming years to recruit,not only in terms of this deal, but generally in the U.S. during the next 10-15 years?

[TarJak]

realistically though a majority of the new aircraft acquisitions will only serve to replace existing aircraft.

thus, pilots who are currently flying for X airline will be retrained on the new aircraft.

only a very very small - almost insignificant number of pilots will actually be "new" to a given company.
And the majority of those "new ones will either be replacements for resignations, retirements or other terminations. The only additional ones would be to cover the growth of the airlines networks. So a realistic number would be the annual growth figure for air travel which is about 5% globally, but that figure is highly variable year on year as air travel is impacted by a number of elements, social as well as economic and health reasons can all conspire to either drop or increase that figure and the number of jobs will move up and down with it.

[Gerald]

The course looks good to broadcast that 'We need one million workers', which certainly pleased many, and stock owners do like media attention, but TarJak mention here, that will be changed to better plan that requires less maintenance when the equipment is more sharper one step earlier, and the actual figure is 1 Million fictitious.