Business aviation staffing has become a competitive issue, not just an HR one. Mandatory retirements at the airlines, faster regional upgrade paths, and a training pipeline that hasn’t kept pace have pulled experienced pilots out of corporate and charter cockpits. Boeing’s Pilot and Technician Outlook, as cited in industry reporting, projects North America will need roughly 119,000 new pilots over 20 years. Maintenance technicians are in the same squeeze.
The pressure doesn’t land evenly. Operating under FAR Part 135 or Part 91 changes who you can hire, how fast you can put them to work, and what a vacancy costs.
Part 135: the regulatory bench is the bottleneck
Part 135 operators don’t just need pilots. They need pilots who are qualified, trained and checked under the operator’s own certificate. Pilot-in-command and second-in-command qualifications, proficiency checks, and currency records mean a new hire can’t simply be dropped into the schedule. Operators also have to keep required management positions filled, including a Director of Operations, Chief Pilot, Director of Maintenance and Chief Inspector, and a vacancy in any of them can threaten the certificate itself, not just a schedule.
The practical result: a charter company that can’t staff a trip can’t simply delay it. The revenue is gone. Operators that rely on contract captains report that the days of finding a qualified one below market rate are effectively over. One vendor survey cited daily rates of $2,500 to $6,000 for large-cabin captains, depending on aircraft and region. (That figure comes from a crew-staffing vendor’s own data, so treat it as directional.) Building a bench of trained, check-ready contract pilots takes lead time, and operators that wait until they need one are already behind.
Part 91: fewer rules, but insurance and expectations do the gatekeeping
Corporate and private flight departments operating under Part 91 aren’t subject to the Part 135 certificate structure, but that doesn’t make hiring easier. Insurance minimums, aircraft-specific type ratings and owner or principal expectations set the real bar. Many departments require a set number of years or flight hours that screen out capable candidates and leave requisitions open for months.
Part 91 operators also compete directly with the airlines. Majors actively recruit senior business aviation pilots, and a flight department with a small crew has little slack when one person leaves.
Maintenance: the quieter shortage
Pilots get the headlines, but both Part 135 and Part 91 operators depend on A&P mechanics, avionics technicians and inspection authorization holders. For a 135 operator, maintenance leadership is a certificate requirement. For a Part 91 department, a single mechanic out sick or gone can ground an aircraft. Broader industry data point to tens of thousands of technician openings coming across North America, and business aviation competes with airlines and MROs for the same people.
What’s working
- Bench depth. Keep three or four vetted contract pilots and mechanics on call instead of one, and keep their training and currency current before you need them.
- Cross-training. Train full-time crew on additional aircraft types for scheduling flexibility.
- Smarter requirements. Keep regulatory and insurance minimums, but revisit every other hour or experience threshold against the current market. The quality and complexity of experience, plus trainability, often matter more than raw tenure.
- Retention first. Schedule predictability, quality of life, training investment and competitive pay keep people from leaving in the first place.
- Speed. Strong candidates get multiple offers. Slow hiring cycles lose them.
The AR perspective
Whether you operate under Part 135 or Part 91, the operators winning the staffing race are the ones who plan the bench before the vacancy, widen the funnel without lowering the safety bar, and move quickly when the right candidate appears. Aviation Recruiting works with operators and candidates on pilots, mechanics, inspectors and key management roles.
Need to fill a seat, or ready for your next move? Contact Aviation Recruiting today.
