March 18, 2026
The aviation industry has been contending with workforce shortages for several years and many reports suggest there is going to be steady demand for pilots for years to come (Source: CAE, Aviation Talent Forecast 2025).
Concerns have been raised surrounding the potential impact of these shortages on safety from the perspective of new employees and high rates of turnover. (See NBAA Survey Explores Impact of Workforce Shortage on Safety.) As a result, the NBAA Safety Committee assigned a working group to the task of investigating this area of concern.
The group’s preliminary efforts focused on exploring the problem to offer business aviation operators and broader aviation professionals effective strategies for managing workforce shortages and related challenges.
The working group made a presentation during the National Safety Forum at the 2024 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE). During this presentation, polling questions were posed to those in the audience. While this form of data collection was informal and not validated via traditional academic methods, it was still indicative of concerns surrounding workforce shortages and their impact on safety.
Which areas of your business aviation department are most affected by workforce shortages in terms of safety?
Pilots were found to be the biggest area of concern for workforce shortages when compared to maintenance, safety management and ground operations employees.
Given the high demand for pilots by the airlines, business aviation flight departments could be struggling to attract qualified pilots. The lack of qualified pilots could lead to safety concerns.
Related Content: LT Academy, Pilot Demand and the Ongoing Pilot Shortage in the United States.
Have you experienced any increase in safety incidents or near-misses due to workforce shortages in the past year?
When asked if there were any changes in safety incidents or near misses, there wasn’t an overwhelming view that there was an increase in safety incidents or near misses.
While this may not seem concerning at first glance, the low number of incidents may lead operators to be complacent. The tenet of “high reliability theory” encourages operators in risky industries, such as aviation, to exercise continued vigilance. Those who drop their guard may find themselves in precarious positions because they do not treat their operating environment with the respect that is warranted. For more information on high reliability theory, see “High-Reliability Organizations Invest in Resilience,” in Human Factors in Aviation, 3rd ed. (Elsevier, 2023).
How do you foresee workforce shortages affecting the future safety of your business aviation operations?
Respondents were generally pessimistic when addressing the question of the future and anticipated workforce effects. These concerns are corroborated by recent reports indicating a workforce shortage and projecting the needs for aviation professionals in the coming years.
While the primary concern for most operators was directed toward pilots, there is a need for aviation professionals across all facets. The CAE Aviation Talent Forecast 2025 provides insight into the projections pertaining to maintenance technicians, cabin crew. Moreover, it breaks down the need for professionals between airlines and business aviation.
This report elaborates on a variety of ways to attract and develop the workforce for aviation. For business aviation operators, educating candidates on the opportunities in business aviation early in their education could be a viable option. This could include attending events like NBAA-BACE to become aware of the many options available within business aviation. Notably, NBAA-BACE has offered Collegiate Connect catered toward collegiate students, in addition to Military Connect for those transitioning from the military to civilian careers.
Cadet and partnership programs offer a defined path to careers in various industries. These pathways can assist operators requiring workforce development.
What strategies have you implemented to mitigate the impact of workforce shortages on safety?
The final question dealt with exploring what operators are doing while facing these workforce challenges. The responses indicated a wide range of approaches. The largest percentage response was implementing new safety protocols. This seems to suggest that operators are realizing the challenge and needing to adapt.
Operators are also indicating they need to increase training in the wake of these challenges. Both of these responses are in line with standard protocols prescribed by safety management systems (SMS). Operators recognizing the threat to safety via their safety risk management and safety assurance processes thereby triggering new protocols is indicative of a healthy SMS. Promoting safety and increasing safety education to their employees is a core tenant of SMS.
In a 2025 study of experienced but “risky” captains paired with initial pilots a found that initial pilots often succumb to social facilitation by following the risky decisions of experienced captains. These findings emphasize the importance of training new pilots on safety policies and procedures that may encourage preferred safety behaviors. Review the study.
Conclusion
The National Safety Forum poll results support the notion that business aircraft operators are concerned about the safety impact of workforce challenges.
Further study into what operators are doing to combat these challenges could provide lessons that others could use. Additional exploration of what training facilities are experiencing – similar to airline-focused studies like Meta-Analysis of Pilot Source Studies – could be useful to the business aviation community.
The NBAA Safety Committee Workforce Challenges Working Group is actively working to explore this topic further and provide meaningful guidance to the NBAA membership. Collaboration and information sharing is needed to assist member organizations learn and grow while ensuring safe operations across business aviation as a whole.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.