Economic Crisis Sends Aviation Sector into a Tailspin

Ina · Economic Crisis Sends Aviation Sector into a Tailspin

The economic crisis is rattling the aviation sector and no company has been left unscathed. Airline profits are suffering while orders for new planes are down. There's no telling when turbulence might end.

http://www.spiegel.de/internation...s/0,1518,630113,00.html#ref=nlint

Somehow, I can't feel very sorry to hear this.

Two guys amongst my relatives/friends are deeply involved in the air industry; one is an engineer in aircraft construction, the other has just proudly qualified as a pilot with Lufthansa. Whenever I've seen them over the last few years I tried hard not to upset them by asking - do you think your job has a future?! Maybe I should have.

Smooth Hound

it can only be good really, not for your friends, but on the whole,
i often feel like asking that question to people in the oil industry, but think better of it.

Ina

I know somebody who's asked the folks with those huge tractors at an agricultural show, whether they'd invented a tractor yet that works without diesel - they simply didn't get the question... I think there's a lot of denial out there. Yes, there will be tractors AND planes (and cars, HGV, whatever...) around for a long time to come, but there will have to be fewer of them - unless they find a way of running them without oil!

IainC

Well in terms of your engineering mates job prospects, they shouldn't really have any problems... there is a serious shortage of qualified aircraft engineers out there. It's a problem that's only going to get worse as more and more of them are getting closer to retirement age as well.

Not so sure about the pilot side though.

beardies