This year, more than 1,000 foreign nationals are enrolled at about 30 flight schools between Miami and West Palm Beach. Most come on a two-year visa, training to fill a projected 460,000 airline pilot jobs worldwide over the next 20 years, brought on by surging market growth and the retirement of older pilots.
In the wake of the Sept. 11th attacks, about 500 flight schools nationwide, including about 50 in Florida, closed down, done in by a soft economy and tight federal scrutiny on foreign students. Many of the 9-11 hijackers received basic training in South Florida and on the state’s west coast.
“9-11 killed general aviation, so we really had to start thinking outside the box in terms of how we would attract students,” said Andrew Henley, director of American Flyers, a flight school at Pompano Beach Air Park. The result: Schools are now advertising in Europe, Asia and Latin America, where the need for pilots is most immediate.
According to a study by Boeing, the Chicago-based manufacturer of commercial jetliners, the world’s airlines are projected to add more than 39,500 planes over the next two decades. Carriers based in the United States, Canada and Mexico will need almost 83,000 pilots. China alone is expected to need almost 73,000 pilots, European airlines 92,500 pilots, Latin America 41,200 pilots and the Middle East 36,600 pilots.
Foreign carriers already are hiring flight crews in large numbers, and 55,000 foreign nationals are receiving training at U.S. flight schools this year, according to the TSA.
“We perform a thorough background check to include terrorism watch list matching, a criminal history check and an immigration status check,” said agency spokeswoman Sari Koshetz.
Pelican Flight Training, a school at North Perry Airport in
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