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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is pushing to raise the mandatory retirement age for international pilots.
IATA will be looking for next week’s Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to lift the age from 65 to 67, after it was last increased from 60 in 2006. The peak airline body says this move “reflects longer, healthier careers while keeping safety safeguards in place”.
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At a media conference ahead of the event, Willie Walsh, director-general of IATA, said there is “no evidence to support the current restriction and a lot of evidence that moving to 67 could be done without any impact to safety”.
“While some people have said this is a response to the global pilot shortage, it’s not, really, because this should apply to all regions, not just in areas where they are currently experiencing a short-term shortage of pilots,” he said.
“It’s evidence-based, it’s data-based decision making, and we believe that that’s where our industry excels. We don’t make decisions based on politics.
“When it comes to safety, we make decisions based on data and proper risk assessment, and the data and the risk assessment shows that an increase in the retirement age from 65 to 67, maintaining the other measures, represents a safe option for the industry.”
The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA), one of the major pilots’ unions in Australia, has offered its contingent support for the move.
“AIPA would support raising the compulsory retirement age for international pilots from 65 to 67 if the decision is based on science and the current medical requirements for pilots continue to apply,” said the union’s president, Andrew Marshall.
Under IATA’s plan, pilots over 65 would still be required to be accompanied in the cockpit by younger pilots, with “stronger, standardised medical oversight” to ensure safety.
“I think this is a safe step based on all of the data that’s available to us, and that’s not to say that that should be the end of it. I think this is an issue that should be continued to be reviewed over time,” said Walsh.
“You don’t have age restrictions on many critical jobs around the world. The difference with our industry, and particularly when it comes to pilots, is that, pilots’ licencing requires continuous assessment, not just in terms of skills, but also continuous medical assessment.
“That’s what enables us to use data to make a risk assessment that gives us confidence that we can move from 65 to 67 and do so in a safe manner.”
While international pilots are currently required to retire at 65, domestic pilots within Australia are permitted to fly past the age of 70.
