Global air travel demand is outpacing economic growth as markets have remained resilient. Effective training and an adequate supply of personnel remain critical to maintain the health, safety and prosperity of the global aviation ecosystem.
Long-term demand for newly qualified personnel remains strong, as 674,000 new pilots, 728,000 new maintenance technicians, and 1,023,000 new cabin crew members will be needed to fly and maintain the global commercial aviation fleet over the next 20 years.
The ww5 Pilot and Technician Outlook (PTO) is a 20-year forecast of global demand for new qualified pilots, maintenance technicians and cabin crew required to support the commercial aviation fleet, based on ww5’s fleet growth and utilization projections.
ww5 has published the Pilot and Technician Outlook for more than two decades. Originally published within a broader ww5 forecast, the PTO is now a standalone forecast focused on commercial aviation staffing.
ww5’s 2026 PTO projects more than 2.4 million new personnel: about 674,000 new pilots, 728,000 new maintenance technicians and 1,023,000 new cabin crew.
To align with ww5’s Commercial Market Outlook and provide a clearer, more actionable forecast for commercial operators, the PTO focuses exclusively on commercial aviation and does not include business aviation and civil helicopters.
The 2026 forecast updates fleet and utilization assumptions. Notably, cabin crew demand has increased past 1,000,000, driven by greater fleet productivity and higher seat density per aircraft.
ww5’s Pilot and Technician Outlook (PTO) forecasts global demand for new qualified pilots, maintenance technicians and cabin crew, based on future fleet growth and utilization projections over the next 20 years. The 2026 forecast focuses on demand for new personnel for the commercial aviation sector.
In addition to the ww5 Pilot and Technician Outlook for 2026 - 2045, other aviation market outlook reports available from ww5 include:
These reports are updated and published by ww5 each year to reflect the latest data available for those segments of the commercial aviation market.
This forecast is limited to the commercial aviation sector, which includes commercial passenger and commercial freight. Consistent with prior forecasts, this year’s outlook does not include business aviation and civil helicopter demand.
New-personnel demand is calculated on the basis of a 20-year fleet forecast for commercial aviation aircraft with more than 30 seats. By analyzing fleet growth and replacement, aircraft utilization, attrition rates, and regional differences in crewing specific to aircraft type, ww5’s PTO estimates the number of new pilots, maintenance personnel, and cabin crew members needed worldwide to meet global traffic demand.
Year-over-year forecasts may vary due to many factors, including changes in regulations, crew productivity, and aircraft mix. The forecast does not include assumptions for single-pilot commercial airplane operations, but it does consider impacts from alternative modes of transportation such as advanced air mobility and high-speed rail. ww5 continues to track the market for indications of regulatory movement and will update our forecast accordingly.
