Recycled pilots fuel domestic airlines’ poaching war
Just last week, Aviation Metric took a cursory look into the dearth of pilots, aircraft engineers and air traffic controllers; three critical professionals in the aviation industry.
This week, the searchlight is on the practice of pilot recruitment, which is commonly referred to as poaching in the aviation industry. It has further exposed how the conditions of service, welfare, and other perks can force a pilot under a bond to seek a transfer of his service to another airline.
Money dictates the cross-carpeting of pilots and other key professionals, making it so easy for them to jump ship. The industry suffers for it, as this dries up airlines’ salary funds, and new entrants are ready to pay more than twice what a pilot earns to lure them to work for them.
Airlines in limbo
Domestically, airlines are struggling to hire pilots. In short, there is an acute shortage of pilots despite the depleting number of aircraft in service. This difficulty, coupled with a lack of investment in training, has led airlines to continue recycling pilots (Poaching) as new airlines seek ready-made pilots. They can’t be blamed, as all airlines, including foreign airlines, do the same because of the acute shortage of pilots.
The term “recycled pilots” in the Nigerian aviation context typically refers to poached pilots—experienced pilots who frequently and rapidly move between domestic airlines, often to the carrier that offers the next slightly better package, rather than investing in the costly training of new, entry-level pilots.
The domestic poaching war drives up local salaries but also showcases the high demand for Nigerian pilots. When foreign carriers (especially in the Middle East and Asia) come recruiting, they offer dollar-based packages that are exponentially higher. Nigerian airlines have become a mere training ground for global aviation, leading to a massive loss of Nigeria’s most talented and experienced pilots and instructors.
Stunted growth
Airlines often poach pilots from competitors rather than train new ones from scratch, primarily to save money, ensure immediate access to experienced personnel, and avoid the time-intensive training process.
Training a new pilot can cost an airline millions of Naira (in the Nigerian context) or over €100,000 internationally for full certification and type rating. Poaching a pre-trained, certified, and experienced pilot transfers that cost to the previous employer or the pilot themselves, allowing the new airline to achieve “more profit”.
A poached pilot is already qualified, current on required flight hours, and may even be rated on similar aircraft, allowing them to join the workforce quickly. Training a new, inexperienced pilot from a cadet programme takes a significant amount of time to accumulate the necessary flying hours and pass rigorous exams.
Poaching ensures a baseline level of experience and proven ability, essential for higher-tier or international airlines that require a certain number of hours.
Global competition
Airlines can’t keep experienced pilots from being poached primarily due to global competition for a limited talent pool, which allows pilots to find lucrative offers with higher pay, better benefits, and improved work-life balance elsewhere.
The industry is also experiencing a significant talent shortage, exacerbated by a large wave of retirements and an increased demand for pilots post-pandemic, forcing airlines to compete aggressively to attract and retain staff.
Experienced Nigerian pilots are increasingly moving to foreign carriers (such as those in the Middle East, Rwanda, and China) that offer significantly better salaries, benefits, and working conditions, creating a massive skills gap in the local industry. This trend risks turning Nigeria into merely a training ground for foreign airlines.
Experts’ views
Poaching creates unhealthy rivalry and animosity among domestic operators, as the Chairman of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, has expressed concern.
At the just concluded FAAN National Aviation Conference (FNAC) held in Lagos, Onyema accused state governments’ owned airlines of poaching pilots who have been trained and engaged, even though some signed a bond before they proceeded for the training, and often, still have years of service ahead in fulfilling the conditions of the bond.
He said it costs about N15m to train a pilot, and after a company has spent so much on training and upgrading some of its pilots, other airlines without scruples are preoccupied with poaching trained, type-rated pilots.
He called for a rethink among fellow members of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), who were culpable for what he described as an unethical manner of hunting and recruiting critical manpower for their operations.
Another airline operator who preferred anonymity has also expressed concern over the situation, noting that the poaching of pilots among domestic airlines is worrisome; a situation he said has caused rift between airlines, admitting that there is a cold war among the carriers on the matter.
The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) has equally sounded the alarm over the future of Nigeria’s aviation sector, warning that the pilot and engineering professions are facing an existential crisis.
President of NAAPE, Abednego Galadima, said the crisis is due to local airlines’ consistent refusal to invest in training young professionals, particularly pilots.
Galadima lamented that instead of training pilots and engineers, local airlines prefer to poach experienced hands from existing companies, a practice he described as “migrating and recycling of professionals.”
This trend, he said, may stunt or kill the dreams of many fresh talents. “Most of the airlines, because they don’t want to train, would rather prefer to be poaching from one company to another, and thereby leaving these young maintenance engineers at the mercy of what they call startups,” Galadima stated.
The NAAPE president highlighted that, even after investing heavily in their training, young pilots return to a hostile industry with limited job opportunities due to the sector’s lean carrying capacity.
This lack of opportunity pushes many to leave the country in search of greener pastures. “As the older, highly experienced pilots and engineers age out, the industry is failing to build a pipeline of local talent to replace them. This has led to massive skill gaps and threatens the sustainability of Nigeria’s aviation sector,” Galadima warned.
Galadima also expressed concern over the importation of foreign professionals, particularly in the oil and gas aviation sub-sector, where some airlines prefer to employ expatriate pilots from Eastern Europe rather than train Nigerians. He described this as a short-sighted cost-cutting measure that deepens the profession’s succession crisis.
Training backlog
During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, pilot training was put on hold in many places as companies waited to see how the pandemic would affect the travel industry. Today, as air travel rebounds, there is a training backlog, and schools are struggling to get new pilots in the air.
At the same time, the pandemic inspired many senior pilots to unexpectedly retire early. More are waiting to hang up their wings.
This leaves airlines with the double challenge of compensating for a wave of retirements and finding more pilots amid increasing demand for air travel, particularly leisure travel.
The current growth in air travel has surprised many airlines, said Christoph Klingenberg, an expert in airline and airport management at Worms University of Applied Sciences in Germany.
“Since it takes several years to train pilots, the situation will take a couple of years to normalise,” Klingenberg said.
Stemming the tide
To minimise pilots’ poaching, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the AON must collaborate to create a robust framework that protects the significant investment airlines make in pilot training.
A precise, industry-wide regulation must be put in place to ensure that any pilot who leaves an airline before fulfilling their training bond obligation must either pay the remainder of the bond or the recruiting airline must compensate the original airline. Currently, this legal protection is often weak or unenforced, which encourages poaching.
Poaching is often driven by the search for “greener pastures” (better pay, benefits, and conditions). Airlines must improve their employment package to retain talent.
Airlines and the government should jointly invest in training a new generation of indigenous pilots through institutions like the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT). This helps to flood the market with qualified personnel, reducing the scarcity that drives poaching.
Last line
To effectively stem pilot poaching in the Nigerian aviation industry, a three-pronged approach is needed: strengthening regulatory enforcement, improving pilot welfare and retention, and promoting local capacity building.
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