At a time when all the news headlines are about how AI will replace all our jobs, our industry, Business Aviation, grapples with huge manpower shortages across the entire space, which is only getting worse. Almost a decade or two of missed opportunities and complacency in finding new young talent have been lost. This article is not about AI and the replacement of those jobs (we will leave that for a different article). With a tightly regulated space in aviation, this will not happen tomorrow. Right now, today, we need pilots to fly your plane, mechanics to maintain it, flight attendants and dispatchers, and a whole host of other personnel to manage these large multimillion-dollar assets.
Business Aviation was primarily built on the backs of the Baby Boomer generation (1946-1964), and many have since or are presently retiring. A recent CAE report predicts that over 100,000 new hires will be needed for Business Aviation just in the form of pilots and technicians over the next eight years. The article goes on to further point out that in the next 10 years, over 83% of current technicians will retire. This doesn’t even consider all the other multiple support jobs that sustain growth in general business aviation in the areas of aircraft management, aircraft sales, charter, and MRO repair stations, to name just a few. Regulatory agencies such as the FAA face the same constraints.
Part of the issue is that our various lobby organizations do a poor job of promoting our industry to find new young talent. It is baffling that an industry that purports to support and caters to the 1%, essentially Multi-Millionaires and Billionaires, has practically very little understanding of how to market our industry to an upcoming young talent pool who one would think would be highly interested in the allure of private jets and the prestige and pay that goes along with the industry.
We work in the prestige business just like Goldman Sachs does in finance. But going to a college campus and attending a recruitment day, and NetJets, Gulfstream, and Bombardier are nowhere to be found. Goldmans Sachs on the other hand, along with other prestige companies are touting their industries, companies, and the lucrative pay packages with bonuses to a new young generation of talent. Beyond Embry-Riddle, young people barely know our industry exists. This is not an opinion it is a fact. Charlie Foulkrod, one of Avjet’s Sales Directors recalls the same when he was a senior at SMU’s School of Business. Oil and gas companies, all the top Consulting firms and financial firms were front and center at these recruitment drives and spent hours educating students on the benefits of joining each company. Not one single GA business aviation firm was present. There exists practically no pipeline or experience path for young people to get acquainted with our industry.
Why the industry skews older
Avjet’s Sales Director, Armen Aslanian, notes that business aviation is relationship driven and built on long-term trust. Clients making large capital decisions want credibility in the room. There is no clear entry path like banking or law, so most people fall into aviation rather than pursue it intentionally. Compensation is commission-based and volatile, and many clients are in high-cost markets, which can make it difficult for younger professionals starting out. It is also a 24/7/365 business, hence when you get a call you can rarely say let me call you back.
A reality with the current generation
Many younger professionals grew up communicating primarily through screens. They are digitally fluent, but high-level verbal communication and in-person networking skills are often underdeveloped. This business depends on reading body language, managing negotiations, and building trust over dinners, hangar visits, and long conversations. In the case of sales, deals are rarely won over email. Aslanian has seen talented young people struggle not because they lack intelligence, but because they have not been trained to communicate confidently in high-stakes environments. That gap must be addressed.
Ideas to attract and develop younger talent
Our industry desperately needs a structured mentorship program focused on communication and business development. Additionally, young people need to be introduced to early client exposure rather than only in support roles. Targeted training in executive presence and negotiation is a must to have any chance at success. From a broader industry standpoint, we need to understand that general business aviation’s mere existence is not enough to draw in young talent. We need to more actively promote the prestige, high compensation, and allure of aviation to the next generation in a much more targeted way to sustain the industry’s growth and fill vacancies while offering training and head start programs for young people to start before and during their college years.
