Barely a year since hiring 46 pilots, the national carrier Kenya Airways is back in the market head-hunting for more to match its growth plans.
Aggressive expansion by regional airlines as well as poaching by established international airlines continue to pile pressure on an industry suffering a massive shortage of skills. This throws employers on a seemingly endless cycle of recruitment - either to capture best talent or cover for staff lost to rivals. Hillary Kioko, from the Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), says a shortage of high-end skills risks slowing growth of the fast expanding industry. "It has been established that there is a big shortage of personnel, which can potentially stifle growth of the aviation sector," he says.
Businessdailyafrica.com reports that Kenya alone needs to train at least 2,000 pilots in the next five years to keep up with increasing activities in the booming industry, according to data from KCAA. Some of the 46 pilots who were recruited last year by Kenya Airways are currently undergoing training in South Africa because Kenya lacks sufficient resources to train them. "If you were trained to fly a Cessna 182, you cannot fly an Airbus or Embraer, and failure to keep flying after school renders you redundant," Kioko says.
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