Location: National
Issue/Source: Upcoming committee appearance
Date: February 13, 2023
Suggested responses
- Transport Canada (TC) recognizes the pandemic resulted in a significant impact on human resources in the aviation industry. The Department continues to monitor the situation as we develop policies and programs to promote safe, secure, efficient, and environmentally responsible air transportation.
- Provided an aviation pilot student meets the Canadian Air Regulations (CAR) Part IV Licensing Standards regarding experience, training completed, knowledge exam, medical certificate, and skill test, they meet the requirements for issuance of the appropriate license or permit.
- Permanent residency is often required for immigration purposes to be able to work in the aviation sector.
- Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) requires Study Permits and in some cases Student Visas before students can start training at a flight school. Some backlogs have been experienced during the pandemic for students to obtain Student Visas.
- TC is working with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and IRCC to accelerate processing of those permits/visas and to develop targeted immigration programs that encourage foreign students to come to Canada for training and to remain here as flight instructors or commercial pilots employed by Canadian industry.
If pressed
- TC is working with the Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC), the Canadian Council of Aerospace and Aviation (CCAA), and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to address barriers for Canadian students related to the high cost of training.
- Part IV of the CARs also provides some limited experience credits for any foreign students that have completed some training in their source countries. The CARs make no reference to citizenship requirements, aside from CAR 401.06 which requires the candidate to provide proof of citizenship, which is not the same as specifying that it must be a Canadian citizenship.
Background Information
Data and research
To supplement its own annual licensing statistical reports and those available from Statistics Canada, TC recently met with the Canadian Council of Aerospace and Aviation to follow up on their detailed analysis of the Aircraft Maintenance Engineer shortage.
Offsetting the high cost of training
A 2022 survey by the Air Transport Association of Canada identified the high cost of training for its member flight schools and operators as the number one obstacle inhibiting students from entering or completing their training. Consequently, TC has begun discussions with Employment and Social Development Canada on improving and standardizing access to student grants and loans which, varies considerably by province.
TC will also continue to work with industry associations and enterprises to explore industry grants, scholarships, and cadet programs, which are conditional offers of employment with aviation enterprises upon graduation, provided the student continues to meet the training objectives.
Smart immigration
Canadian students alone will likely not be sufficient to fill in the shortages and since international students supply much-needed additional funding for the flight training industry, TC has started discussions with GAC and IRCC to determine the optimal balance between short-term and long-term programs. An existing short-term program is the Foreign License Validation Certificates (FLVCs) program which can be used for foreign pilots meeting agreed International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards to work for up to a year with a Canadian company on the same type of aircraft. Longer-term programs seek to encourage international students with a path to permanent residency or citizenship by completing their initial training and serving as flight instructors for a few years to gain experience before moving on to the airlines.
Modernizing regulations
Training irritants package
TC consulted with the industry on a package of relatively minor yet positive regulatory amendments meant to address irritants identified by the aviation industry. Personnel Qualifications, Training, and Licensing is expected to be published in the Canada Gazette, Part I in the coming months while Low Impact Amendments and Exemption Codification is targeting Canada Gazette, Part II publication later in 2023.
Maximize training capacity
With the industry starting up again rather quickly and surging past 2019 levels, the demand for graduating students has soared. However, several factors are inhibiting training capacity, such as the following:
Experienced instructor retention
It takes a few years to transform a new instructor into an experienced instructor that can mentor other instructors, become a Chief Flight Instructor, or a pilot examiner. However, last year the average dwell time dropped to 1.5 years, half of the minimum time required. Addressing the cost barriers will help, but the industry will need to take the lead in setting up more cadet programs where future conditional employment of a flight instructor would be contingent on staying at the flight school for a fixed term. This would create a win-win situation for flight schools, instructors, and airlines.
Improving the viability of aviation careers
Improving the viability of aviation careers aims to enable alliances and agreements between initial flight schools and the air operators to create cadet programs to financially sponsor students of merit from underrepresented groups or limited financial means. Similarly, conditional offers of employment at key gates in their training, and similarly with flight instructors to keep them instructing at the school for a few more years with the peace of mind that they have a slot and seniority number at their follow-on airline employer. Compensation and work lifestyle are also factors that are best addressed by the industry.
Awareness and promotion
Awareness and promotion is a joint effort with other government agencies, educational and youth organizations, and the industry to promote awareness of the aviation industry and encourage members of underrepresented groups to consider it as their career.