Travels And Aviation NEWS: Aviation industry needs to boost wages to address looming job shortage: ICAO

MONTREAL - Air carriers needs to improve wages and benefits in order to help regain the lost appeal of an industry facing a historic shortage of skilled professionals, the head of the UN civial aviation agency said on Thursday.

A wave of retiring baby boomers and skyrocketing demand in emerging markets are creating shortages — particularly of pilots, controllers and mechanics, said Raymond Benjamin, secretary general of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Being a flight attendant or pilot no longer has the appeal that it did decades ago, he said Thursday in Montreal after speaking to the French Chamber of Commerce in Canada.

"It's no longer the glamourous era of pilots with nice uniforms. (Now) they are people who often have second jobs."

A recent ICAO study said that 560,000 people will need to be trained over the next 20 years, including 360,000 maintenance workers, 160,000 pilots and 40,000 aircraft controllers.

Strong aviation growth in some parts of the world is also accentuating the problem because they offer large incentives to attract workers to relocate.

"There are some places where demand is so strong that they suck up all the graduates of other countries," Benjamin said.

The comments come as Air Canada (TSX:AC.B) has begun contract negotiations with its workers. Its various unions are seeking large wage increases to partially recover for years of few gains caused by the airline's weak financial position.

Low wages also contribute to pilot fatigue if they take several jobs to make ends meet. Although some pilots for large planes at major airlines can earn well over, $100,000 a year, that's not the case for pilots at small regional airlines.

The co-pilot of a deadly 2009 crash nearly Buffalo, N.Y. took a cross-country red-eye flight the night before to get to her $23 an hour or US$16,000 a-year job. Rebecca Shaw, 24, previously had a second job working in a coffee shop. The average salary for Colgan Air pilots was around US$55,000.

Benjamin said ICAO has created a working group to develop new standards and procedures to address a problem has caused numerous accidents and fatalities.

Recommendations to government could include reducing the number of hours in flight or lengthen the intervening rest times.

2. India to support ICAO's endeavors to promote peace amongst nations

Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi on Monday reaffirmed India's commitment and support to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) towards fulfillment of its vision of a safe, secure, orderly and sustainable development of international civil aviation by promoting consensus and cooperation amongst the members of ICAO.

Inaugurating the Regional Aviation Security Conference (RAVSECC) here, Ravi said: "India will continue to fully support ICAO's endeavors to promote understanding, friendship and peace amongst the nations and people of the world besides promoting economic development, trade and tourism throughout the world."

"Aviation security has been identified by ICAO as one of the three major strategic objectives. We have noted that during recent times ICAO is instituting organizational reforms to increase its effectiveness and efficiency to enable the organisation to face new challenges of technological, economic, social and legal nature," he added.

Ravi, who is also the Overseas Indian Affairs Minister, said the member states of ICAO have greatly benefited from modernized aviation security standards laid by ICAO, which are audited and enforced across the globe.

"Through audits and technical assistance ICAO has provided a basic platform to build a robust aviation security framework. We wholeheartedly welcome these measures and commit to extend necessary support to ICAO in implementing these reforms," said Ravi.

"We also support USAP and commit to fund all aviation security programme through ICAO. India has done well in the first USAP audit conducted by ICAO. The second round is under way," he added.

Ravi further said over the years aviation has become a soft target for terrorists and extremists.

"Any attack on aviation generates a lot of media interest and helps the terrorist groups to achieve their objective of getting maximum publicity. Securing aviation, as you all will agree is a complex business. The dichotomy of stringent security measures vis-Ã -vis the demand for efficient passenger facilitation needs to be managed properly. While fully sympathetic to the demands of the industry and passengers for better facilitation we need to place the security of aviation as our top most priority," said Ravi.

Appreciating the huge potential of aviation as a key driver of economy, the minister said: "Development of infrastructure, generation of employment, promotion of tourism, establishing international and domestic connectivity, movement of cargo etc. are some of benefits of aviation which have just started positively impacting our economy. The last thing we want is any disruption or interference in the orderly operation of domestic and international aviation in this region."

"Aviation Security unlike aviation safety is an extremely dynamic entity. The threats, risks and challenges change and grow very fast leaving us with very little time to react and put corrective measures. The only way to hope for a secure aviation is to think ahead in this game, plan and be prepared for any and every eventuality," he added.

Asserting that India is fully cognizant of the fact that terrorism is not restricted by national boundaries, Ravi said: "We are keen to develop mechanisms within ICAO States to share security related information especially at regional level in an appropriate manner. All of us present here recognize this and that is why we are here today."

The objective of the conference, which is being organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is to endorse the declaration on security adopted in the 37th International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly and also to review the developments taking place in the field of aviation security in the countries of this region.

Delegates from 16 countries, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and India International Organizations like Airport Council International, European Commission, International Air Transport Association, Department of Transport-UK, Transport Security Administration, USA are attending the Conference. (ANI)

4. India to host regional aviation security conference

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) Top aviation security experts from various countries would gather here on Monday to discuss changing threat perceptions to the sector and review whether aviation security activities were being carried out on the lines recommended by the global aviation body ICAO.The Regional Aviation Security Conference, to be held under the aegis of UN body International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), would evolve an aviation security roadmap which can be used by countries to proactively and jointly counter and prevent acts of unlawful interference against global civil aviation, an official spokesperson said.The four-day conference would review the compliance by various nations on the Security Declaration made in the 37th ICAO Assembly last year and carry out a risk overview of the recent developments in aviation security.The Declaration had laid out a comprehensive aviation security strategy, focusing on seven key areas, including ways to address new kinds of threats, efficient security approaches, promoting sharing of information amongst nations and improving the human factor and security culture.The detailed declaration also recommended mutual recognition of aviation security procedures followed by different countries, apart from standardising the security approaches.The conference would be attended by ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin, who earlier headed ICAO's Aviation Security branch, besides representatives from International Air Transport Association, Airports Council International, European Civil Aviation Conference, US Transportation Security Administration and Department of Transport of the UK.Delegates from several countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Bhutan would be attending the meet.The conference will be followed by a two-day Aviation Security Training programme for senior executives of the Indian aviation industry.