By Ricardo Real
CEO, Aerocardal
Private aviation in Latin America is increasing annually. Mining, agriculture, and energy industries employ executive and cargo flights in order to connect distant points. Business aircraft have become the norm among prosperous families and enterprises that use them as productivity tools. Medical flights are also increasing in number.
However, alongside this growth is a structural weakness – the lack of trained and certified pilots. Demand is robust, but the supporting training infrastructure is poor. While fleets are growing and pilots want local advanced certifications, limited domestic training options often lead operators to go overseas.
The consequence is a paradox – opportunity is widespread, but training availability is limited. It’s also costly and often challenging to access.
Demand exceeds capacity
Latin America is filled with talent. This region is capable of turning out talented aviators who have often started in general aviation or at national airlines. But the transition into business aviation requires type ratings and recurrent certifications for complex jets, such as those from Dassault Falcon, Embraer, Gulfstream, and Pilatus –and this is something that domestic schools simply do not offer yet.
For helicopter pilots, one option is to travel to Italy for training, which represents a similar distance and cost barrier. There are training opportunities in other countries, but these entail airline pilot training more than corporate aviation. This demand–supply gap has been on the rise for years.
Certification bar is higher
Adding to the challenge is the role of insurers and certifying authorities. Aviation safety is not something you compromise on, and understandably so.
Pilots are required to train at major hubs around the globe, typically in the United States or Europe – and they have to go back for recurrent checks at 12-month intervals.
This increases greatly the expenses for Latin American pilots. Adherence to international levels of care is mandatory, but compliance translates into repeated international travel, paying for offsite accommodation, and managing exchange rate fluctuations.
For example, a course that potentially costs tens of thousands of dollars in Miami FL is actually more expensive when you take into account the devaluation of the pilot’s national currency and cost of air travel.
It is also worth noting that insurance requirements for simulator training in Latin America drive up costs substantially, even for pilots who have more than 2500 flight hours. Such standards are necessary and justified, yet they place regional operators at a considerable disadvantage.
The lower flight volumes and operational frequencies across the continent make compliance disproportionately expensive compared to markets with higher traffic and greater training throughput.
The vicious cycle for pilots
The narrative is no less daunting for pilots who fly solo. In addition to being costly, overseas training usually hinges on the goodwill of their employer, since not many pilots have the resources to finance the cost of type ratings, simulator time, and overseas flights themselves.
Operators, meanwhile, must offset spending on pilot development against thin margins and unpredictable charter demand. This creates a bottleneck – there is skilled pilot manpower, but there are never quite enough pilots who can afford, or become qualified for, the training needed for promotion.
This vicious cycle does no good to anybody. Operators experience pilot shortages, pilots cannot advance their careers, and the whole regional aviation value chain is less competitive than in North America and Europe.
For private jet operators, these are ongoing requirements. Operating a heterogeneous fleet means that pilots often need to complete recurrent training in the United States or Europe, typically at facilities affiliated with the aircraft manufacturers.
Whether it’s Gulfstream and Pilatus programs in the US, or Aircraft Industries specialization in the Czech Republic, the same holds true – compliance is generally structured around international facilities.
As new aircraft types enter service, these undertakings only mount up, and they’re inevitable, evidencing the larger reality facing every Latin American operator – keeping qualified crews forces serious investments in foreign training, because the local infrastructure does not even come into the equation.
One option available for Latin American business aircraft operators is Entrol, a training facility based in Madrid, Spain. While a solid option, especially due to language commonality, this still requires transatlantic travel and overnight stays under European regulation.
However, while it does not address the absence of regionally accredited centers, it serves as a viable alternative in a region that needs on-site training presence.
The cost of doing nothing
If there is no sustained investment in training centers in Latin America, operators and pilots will remain dependent on US and European sources, and several risks may arise, such as:
• Pilot shortage: bottlenecks will worsen given rising demand for private aviation.
• Higher operational costs: operators will pass on rising training costs to customers, reducing competitiveness.
• Workforce migration: skilled pilots may migrate to places where training and career prospects are available.
• Constriction of regional development: operators cannot expand fleets or add new aircraft types effectively until trained personnel become available.
The price of inaction goes beyond cost. It restrains the future of private aviation in the region from developing into an internationally competitive industry.
Investment in people, not aircraft
It’s easy enough to discuss new aircraft deliveries, expanding charter networks, or increased passenger demand. But none of these will improve our industry without human beings at the forefront. Pilots cannot be replaced. They comprise the heart of operational safety, with their training, certification, and experience.
The need for this ongoing investment highlights the structural gap in the region. Latin America needs to develop the ability to train its own professionals at home if we are to guarantee the future of aviation in the region.
The private aircraft market in Latin America is large, but development will be checked if the pilot training logjam is not corrected. Long-term reliance on US and European hubs is increasingly unsustainable. Operators, pilots,
authorities, and manufacturers will have to come together and create solutions at a regional level.
It will be expensive, but the reward – safer skies, healthier operators, and empowered pilots – is exponentially greater. If private air travel in Latin America is going to thrive, we need to invest not only in aircraft but in the men and women who fly them.