News Pilot shortage hampering Japan's tourism growth

Japan faces a significant pilot shortage, with approximately 7,100 pilots currently employed and an additional 1,000 projected to be needed by 2030 to support the government's goal of attracting 60 million tourists. In response, the transport ministry has established a panel to explore measures, including accelerating and streamlining the converting of foreign pilots' licenses. However, hiring overseas pilots presents several challenges, including opposition from unions, lower pay compared to international standards, and an impending wave of retirements among domestic airline captains. To address these issues, Nobuhito Abe, a partner at Kearney, suggests that major airlines adapt their internal processes to accommodate non-Japanese speaking pilots, as current procedures remain largely domestic-focused.

On average, captains at Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) receive annual salaries of around JPY 25 million (USD 172,900), an industry source said. A pilot with 12 years of flying experience at Delta Air Lines, meanwhile, can expect to get about USD 453,000 while someone flying for American Airlines would be in line for about USD 480,000, the source said.

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Introducing foreign pilots to Japan's aviation industry could potentially lead to resentment from local staff, who may fear discriminatory treatment or reduced promotional opportunities. In Japan, many professions, including piloting, are often considered lifelong careers. Traditionally, most Japanese pilots are recruited directly by ANA or JAL or graduate from the government-funded Civil Aviation College, which admits approximately 100 students annually. Requests for comment from All Nippon Airways Crew Association and JAL Flight Crew Union were not answered. Currently, foreign pilots in Japan are a rarity. According to sources, JAL employs around 2,000 pilots, including a small number of non-Japanese pilots, while ANA has approximately 2,400 pilots with minimal foreign hires.

Japan is one of the most literate and technologically advanced country in the world. Pause to consider bullet trains. If they can create trains that can go over two hundred miles per hour, soon, they won't even really need pilots. I'm sure they can create a good Ai with maybe one pilot there just in case. I believe in them.

I wonder if they are also seeing a shortage in the ATCs as well? Hopefully they don't just focus on the pilots needed and forget about other highly skilled critical roles that are required to support the increase of traffic.

derekiscool said:

Japan is one of the most literate and technologically advanced country in the world. Pause to consider bullet trains. If they can create trains that can go over two hundred miles per hour, soon, they won't even really need pilots. I'm sure they can create a good Ai with maybe one pilot there just in case. I believe in them.

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So far those trains don't cross the ocean. Though that would be cool.

Petaris said:

So far those trains don't cross the ocean. Though that would be cool.

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No, I'm talking about ai for planes.

I imagine "autopilot" is a bit like an AI program. I remember about a year ago ,there were stories about car computers being hacked while driving down the road. I wonder if making computer programs for planes & airports gets much more complicated including protection from such problems.

thomas said:

or graduate from the government-funded Civil Aviation College, which admits approximately 100 students annually

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If they need more pilots perhaps they might want to increase enrollment.

Grandpa Frank said:

I imagine "autopilot" is a bit like an AI program. I remember about a year ago ,there were stories about car computers being hacked while driving down the road. I wonder if making computer programs for planes & airports gets much more complicated including protection from such problems.

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Somewhere around 2015 I took a tour of the civilian part of Rockwell Collins' main manufacturing facility in Iowa. (They were since bought out and now called Collins Aerospace, under the Raytheon umbrella.) Part of the tour was we go to see the stuff they were working on, and part of it was a flight simulator. I never realized just how boring it is to fly a large commercial airline plane. Airline AI is miles ahead of what autonomous cars can do. I don't think it's even close.