Originally Posted by
rickair7777
...That may reflect a loss of jobs at the regional pilot level and possibly in general aviation...
I think they say the loss is due to the advent of physically larger regional aircraft, larger airplanes with more seats in particular. Recreational GA as we know has seen a massive decline in recent years due to fuel costs, litigation, and the gradual decline of the middle class but since we are talking about jobs it shouldn't matter directly. What we do see is a rapid rise in acquisition cost for new GA aircraft due to smaller sales volumes.
...I suspect that higher-end biz-av employment will stay pretty good too...as society continues to stratify, there will be more folks who can afford jets and as long as you're willing to take your place among the growing servant class there may be opportunity there as well.
Interesting point and one that is in agreement with current Teal Group analysis on the subject, except for one thing. The bizjet market has also stratified in recent years into two major groups- the super midsize (ie. Gulfstream) segment that continued to sell well during the world recession, and another group comprised of smaller bizjets which saw massive downturns during the same period. The latter hasn't recovered on time to the dismay of industry analysts. It's hard to put numbers on it, but we do know this stratification has taken place and pilot employment may be adversely affected.