What Others Say About The
Aero & Aviation Industry
By Samniang Saenram
Next Generation of Aviation Professionals
(NGAP) (Source: ICAO) Drone Industry Trends in 2019
(Source: Geospatial Aditya Chaturvedi)
The NGAP initiative was launched in 2009 to
help ensure that enough qualified and competent
aviation professionals are available to operate,
manage and maintain the future international
air transport system. This is critical as a large
contingent of the current generation of aviation
professionals will be retiring, access to affordable
training and education is increasingly problematic,
and aviation competes with other industry
sectors for highly skilled professionals. The lack
of harmonised competencies in some aviation
disciplines and a lack of awareness by the “next
generation” of the types of aviation jobs available,
further compound the challenge.
The NGAP issues are of immediate interest
to many stakeholders: airlines, air navigation
service providers, airports, manufacturers,
training providers, universities, and others.
Attracting and educating the next generation
of aviation profesionals also involves working
with national and international education and
labour stakeholders. In order to promote and
gain leverage for NGAP among all stakeholders,
it is critical to adopt a data-driven approach that
justifies the future investment of resources in
NGAP initiatives. The International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO) initially launched the NGAP
programme to address the forecasted shortage
of aviation professionals.
Due to the importance of NGAP issues, ICAO
has determined that it is critical to provide greater
support to this work and, as a result, has elevated
the NGAP initiative to an ICAO Programme. The
ICAO NGAP Programme has been incorporated
into the ICAO Global Plans, both for safety and air
navigation, as well as the ICAO Business Plan and
Work Programme. The drone industry has witnessed rapid expansion
this year, and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) is only going to increase in sectors like
agriculture, mining, construction, exploration of
resources and surveying.
In 2018, drone companies began expanding
their area of operations and determining the
viability of a drone programme by revamping
their workflows and managing data. This year, the
companies availed the benefits of beyond visual
line of sight operations. Let’s look at some of the
drone industry trends that were witnessed this
year.
Consistent Growth
Drones require ground station drone operators
and the requirements for becoming an operator
are quite stringent in most parts of the world. Most
countries have enacted drone laws that stipulate
minimum one pilot per drone operation. Therefore
the number of certified remote drone operators
is an indicator of where the industry is heading
and whether or not people find it promising. In
the last one year, the number of Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) registered and certified drone
operators increased around twofold, reaching
more than 100,000 in number.
The increase comes mainly from organisations
who employ operators for their drone programmes
and not from amateur drone providers. This
is indicative of the growing acceptance of the
commercial drone industry and its role as the
main engine of growth in the drone sector.
However, there has been speculation that the
growth in the number of pilots is slow and if more
companies do not start making profits, it will not
grow quickly. A steady and consistent pattern
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