, aviation expert Guy Leitch said this was not limited to just pilots but also engineers and maintenance staff.
He added that the industry is facing increased safety regulations from the Civil Aviation Authority, which requires good compliance officers in almost every airline and maintenance firm in the country. “Although in South Africa this is not the case yet, increasingly you will see foreign airlines are going to put up their packages to attract African pilots and it will be much harder for South Africa to retain its best pilots.”
In response to Leitch’s comments, the South African Civil Aviation Authority’s Phindiwe Gwebu said that many of South Africa’s pilot licences are lying dormant as the local industry saw mass lay-offs as a result of the Covid pandemic.