A chronic shortage of airline pilots, engineers and air traffic controllers is grounding flights and stoking safety concerns around the world.

Airlines, already buffeted by record-high oil prices, are cutting routes and even flying around badly affected countries in the wake of a skills crunch. A spokesman for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the industry body, said that a dearth of trained staff was becoming “a serious global issue ... as aviation becomes a low-cost industry”.

The problem is hitting the fastest-growing markets the hardest. In India, where the middle class has embraced flying and passenger volumes surged by 30 per cent last year, airlines cannot recruit enough pilots. This week Air India, the national carrier, was forced to scrap a route to London for want of crew.

Meanwhile, shortages of technical personnel have affected countries ranging from Israel, where a government committee recently found that aviation safety was in dire straits, to the Republic of Ireland, where air traffic controllers threatened to strike this year, claiming that they could not deal with a significant increase in the number of flights.

The problems come after years of cost cuts. The IATA estimates that airlines have increased their labour productivity by two thirds since 2001 by reducing capacity. There are also suggestions that the sharp drop in pilots' earnings after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 - the highest salaries have fallen by a third, to about £100,000 - has turned would-be cockpit crew members off the industry at a time when global air traffic is growing by 6 per cent a year.

Existing talent is migrating to the most lucrative markets. In Africa, which American officials has suggested is suffering “an exodus” of aircraft engineers, air travel is six times more lethal than in Europe, according to the IATA.

A British Airways spokesman said that the airline had not encountered problems hiring pilots so far because of its status as “an aspirational carrier that pays very competitively”. However, he added that BA was aware of what he called a larger issue surrounding a finite resource.

Time lags in training are coming into play, carriers say. Air India pulled its service from Calcutta to London because of a shortage of Boeing 777 commanders, who need to accumulate flying hours over three to four years before they are qualified.

Flights between Delhi, Bombay, Chicago and New York will also be affected. A spokesman said: “We have tapped all resources, retrained staff and brought in ex-pat pilots where the markets permit, but still we have shortages.”

It is estimated that more than two new pilots a day are needed to keep up with demand on the sub-continent, but there are also concerns for the state of the aircraft they will fly. A recent report found that half the positions in some government-run offices responsible for aviation safety checks in India were unfilled.

The highly trained staff that direct the passage of aircraft from the ground are also in short supply. The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers estimates a shortage of 3,000 controllers, although many staff already work significant overtime and claim that the true figure could be higher.

There have been reports of aircraft being directed to fly around countries such as Poland because there were too few controllers on duty to ensure their safe passage.

A wing and a prayer

— Worldwide demand for new commercial pilots is running at 18,000 a year

— Maximum global training capacity for commercial pilots is 15,000 a year

— India requires 5,000 new pilots annually

— Global passenger numbers are growing at 6 per cent a year

— In the fastest-growing countries, such as India, passenger numbers grew by 30 per cent last year

— Air India has begun to recruit from the Indian Air Force to help to make up a pilot shortfall

— Suggested remedies include increasing the retirement age for commercial pilots to 65

Source: IATA

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