Just curious if anyone knows how many ATPL pilots were minted so far this year or last year in Canada. I seem to remember DaveP saying that recently there were only 350 or so. I'm just wondering if there is any substance to the pilot shortage or whether 350 was a statistical anomaly.

Wouldn't surprise me. Without numbers at hand, I do know that overall CPLs being issued show a steady decline while the percentage of those CPLs going to foreign students who are going back home immediately is on the rise. Assuming every Canadian who gets a CPL gets an ATPL a couple years later, that 350 number sounds about right.

It's possible that some more Commercial licensed pilots will be getting their ATPL these days due to movement in the airline industry. Before you would be stuck as a first officer for 10+ years so a lot of guys were just staying in their 703/704 positions in small towns making 80k a year with a high standard of living. Perhaps now that you can upgrade much quicker and the pain of the reduced salary will be shorter maybe some of them will decide to get their ATPL and come over to the airline world.

Victory wrote:It's possible that some more Commercial licensed pilots will be getting their ATPL these days due to movement in the airline industry. Before you would be stuck as a first officer for 10+ years so a lot of guys were just staying in their 703/704 positions in small towns making 80k a year with a high standard of living. Perhaps now that you can upgrade much quicker and the pain of the reduced salary will be shorter maybe some of them will decide to get their ATPL and come over to the airline world.

I don't understand the logic here, just because you stay in a 703/704 world does not mean you would not be getting your ATPL. Is that not how everyone gets their ATPL requirements? Since when do you need to work at a 705 to get your ATPL? Unless they stayed f/o's in those small towns which I doubt.