Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the number of pilots that are trained in the UK.
The table below shows the number of pilots who, according to the Civil Aviation Authority’s records, had an initial UK commercial licence issued each year.
Year Number of pilots .
2013 1883
2014 1894
2015 1850
2016 1776
2017 1960
Figures for the number of pilots trained in the UK are not available. Applicants for a UK commercial pilot’s licence are not necessarily trained in the UK, and many pilots come to the UK for training but will have a licence issued by their own national aviation authority.
The Government will explore current and future skills shortages in aviation, such as pilot training, as part of the Aviation Strategy which is due for publication in 2019. This will be a long term strategy to 2050 and beyond.
The Aviation Strategy ‘Next Steps’ document, published April 2018, highlighted a number of considerations for Government to address skills shortages. These included further collaboration between industry and education providers, realising the full potential of General Aviation training grounds and work to better understand the extent of such skills gaps and how these may affect the aviation sector in future.