The past 10 years or so you heard of the words “Pilot shortage” a lot of times in the news, magazines or people just talked about it sometimes during conversations.

Now we should change the words to Pilot Jobs Shortage. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole world came to a stand still: many businesses are closed in most countries, people stop traveling, most flights are canceled due to passengers load factors almost down to zero. Millions of people lost their jobs due to business closures and business owners are filing for bankruptcy. Some cities, states, provinces and even countries issued “Shelter in Place” orders, meaning an individual must stay at home or other lodging until further notice by government officials. Only  essential workers are allowed to go to work. Almost all the streets in the cities and towns are empty. When you walk on the street it’s just like a ghost town.

This is Billings, Montana, on a late morning on a normal business day (Tuesday). As you can see, there was absolutely no one on the street.

Now let’s take a look at some bigger cities. This is a 405 freeway in Los Angeles during normal day rush hours:

And this is Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco during rush hours on a normal day:

Let’s look at some busiest airports in the United States.

Seattle Airport inside the Terminal Building:

San Francisco Airport outside the Terminal Building:

As you see in the above pictures, there is absolutely no one on the streets, or flying for business or pleasures. The economic effects of the pandemic means many businesses and airlines are filing for bankruptcy and starting lay-offs. As of April, 2020, three Airlines and one Corporate Jet company have already closed indefinitely and already filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. We are talking about tens of thousands of pilots being furloughed and losing their flying jobs. Thus, there will be tens of thousands of well qualified pilots applying for flying jobs and waiting for companies to reply to their applications. That’s why there is no more Pilot Shortage, instead we called it Pilot Jobs Shortage.

I’d say for the people who still want to become pilots, this is the best time to go into training to obtain as many certificates and ratings as possible, build as much flight time as possible and be ready. Once the economy and the aviation industries become better — and I am sure in the near future it will be — you are all set to go and maybe one day you will land a flying job you’ve always dreamed of. Good luck to everyone and keep up the good works.

Fly High! Fly Safe!