Expansion, Expansion, Expansion -- New Routes

Growth in the commercial airline industry means many things. If you are considering becoming a pilot as a career, the most significant thing it means is more pilots are needed -- and you could have your choice of exciting, rewarding jobs.

Every time you see a newspaper item about some airline expanding their routes and now flying to another new city, that means they will need pilots for that expansion! 

Each month I list more and more route expansions. The reason I do this is so you can see how airlines throughout the world are rapidly growing -- and needing more employees to satisfy that growth. You could be one of those new employees, joining as a First Officer.

AirTran Airways, based in Orlando, Florida, has announced it will be starting service to St. Louis, Missouri, with five daily flights. The airline is the world's largest operator of the Boeing 717, which has 117 seats. It also flies the Boeing 737 with 137 seats.

AirTran Airways has also just announced it will be starting service to San Diego, California from Atlanta, Georgia. 

Who Is Buying More Aircraft? Who Will Need More Pilots?

Northwest Airlines has placed firm orders for 36 Bombardier CRJ900s and for 36 Embraer 175s in order to pursue growth opportunities in the US. Northwest also took options for 96 CRJ900s and for up to 136 more E-175s.

Northwest is expected to take the initial delivery of both Bombardier and Embraer aircraft within the next few months. Northwest's new regional subsidiary, Compass Airlines, will operate the Embraer 175s as Northwest Aiarlink.

EgyptAir has placed a firm order for six Embraer 170s with options for an additional six. Delivery is scheduled for April. The Embraer 170s will operate under EgyptAir's newly created subsidiary, EgyptAir Express.

Ryanair has placed an order for a further 32 Boeing 737-800s. Deliveries for this order, valued at USD 2.25 billion is scheduled to begin next year. To date, Ryanair has ordered 281 737-800s, of which 111 have been delivered to date.

MyWay Airlines of Vicenz, Italy, has placed orders for 19 Bombardier CRJ900s. The value of these aircraft is approximately USD 702 million. MyAir currently flies to Europe and the Middle East with Airbus A320s.

Would you like to fly to any of these growing airlines listed above? Call Phoenix East Aviation today and hear how that's possible. You could be starting your flight training as early as next month! One of our Admissions Officers can tell you how easy it is.

Have You Heard About the Asia-Pacific Airline Industry Growth?

India continues to see rapid airline growth. Jet Airways Executive Director Saroj Datta said five new airlines have started up in just the past 16 months.  There are likely to be another six starting service in the next 12 months. He says that would equate to a 75% increase in available seat miles.

Kapil Kaul, CEO Indian Subcontinent and Middle East, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), said "in 2004 CAPA predicted 25% growth for the next four years. This year, we've revised that and are predicting 30% growth for the next five years.

Because the need for pilots for so great in India, Indian airlines are now hiring both domestic and foreign pilots to fly its commercial aircraft. 

Interested in flying internationally? Call Phoenix East Aviation and ask to talk to an Admissions Officer. Find out how quickly you can learn the skills and have the experience to be hired by an airline.

A New Environmentally-Friendly Airline Starts Service

Silverjet, the world's first 'carbon neutral' airline has taken its inaugural flight. It is the world's first airline to be 100 percent carbon neutral. Included within each ticket is a mandatory carbon offset contribution, giving passengers the opportunity to reinvest "carbon points" in a number of climate-friendly projects around the world.

Silverjet is an all-business class, luxury airline, flying Boeing 767s fitted with 100 award-winning flat bed seats. It is now flying daily from New York and London.

Pakistan's fast-developing popular private sector airline,

Russia's First Budget Airline

Sky Express, Russia's first budget airline started service this week.  Their goal is to win a sizable share of the fast-growing, USD 7 billion domestic market by 2012.

The airline is flying Boeing 737 aircraft. They will fly to Sochi, the Black Sea resort and also to destinations in the Ural mountains, Siberia and southern Russia.

How Would You Like This Job Flying Jets?

Attention Pilots, how would you like to fly important business executives and celebrities around?  You may not have thought about this, but flying for a international charter service can be a great -- and exciting -- job.

There are companies, an example is Air Group Inc, that manages corporate jets and arranges charters for businesses and wealthy individuals. Private jets fly chief executives such as Charles Miller, Avery Dennison Corporation, to Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo and back within a few days from California. It saves him time and hassle. Air Group has offices in both US coasts, in the Midwest and in Japan, helping companies expand globally. Air Group has 160 employees. Executives like using a private plane because they can hold confidential meetings during the flight and don't have to waste time transferring to increasingly smaller aircraft to get to hard-to-reach destinations. As a pilot for a charter company, you could also find yourself flying movie stars to locations all over the world for film making or to their favorite vacation venues.

There are 3,000 general aviation companies -- the industry term for noncommercial and nonmilitary operations -- and about 30 of them specialize in overseas travel. These companies offer an exciting and challenging job for pilots. If this type of pilot job interests you consider looking into career opportunities with these specailized companies.

If this type of fast paced pilot job interest you, but you are not yet a pilot, consider attending an accredited flight school like Phoenix East Aviation. Contact Phoenix East Aviation and find out how you can acquire the skills and experience to be a pilot for the rich and famous!

January Marks Five Years of Aviation Growth

Commercial aviation continues to grow; more pilots are continually needed to satisfy that growth. The world's airlines have made another solid start this year, timetabling nearly 2.4 million scheduled flights this month -- 100,000 more than a year ago -- and 300,000 more than in January 2002. This four percent increase is more than matched by a five percent increase in airline seating capacity. These figures were revealed in the recent OAG Quarterly Airline Traffic Statistics. OAG gathers data from more than 1,000 scheduled airlines.

Duncan Alexander, OAG's Managing Director, said "While the percentage increases may not sound dramatic, their significance is in their consistency.  This is the fifth consecutive year that we have seen an increase in January capacity ... The fact that carriers are sufficiently confident to boost capacity yet again suggests that 2007 could be a good year ."

The low-cost flights are up 15% globally, with Asia accounting for half of that. More than half of the world's new low-cost flights were in Asia Pacific. There were 22,000 additional low-fare services within the region during the month, representing a 67 percent increase from last year.

January also had a 57 percent increase in the number of low-cost flights to and from Europe and a 118 percent rise in low-cost operations to and from Africa.  Flights to and from the US, the world's most mature aviation market, were five percent higher than in January 2005 at 114,700. The month's 818,000 US domestic flights showed a two percent increase. Conversely, the UK market saw a greater year-over-year increase domestically than in its international services, with the number of flights rising four and one percent respectively.