Only 3.4% of U.S. airline pilots are Black, 2.2% are of Asian descent, and 0.5% are Hispanic or Latino. Women make up just 4.6%. These statistics are pitiful and make for horrible reading. However, Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, successfully amended legislation which attempts to address these systemic anomalies within the aviation industry.
The Airways Act is landmark legislation to provide public and non-profit educational institutions with the resources they need to address the shortage of pilots, mechanics, and manufacturers. Warnock also successfully secured provisions of his legislation in the FAA reauthorization bill. One of the key benefits will be in aviation workforce development. Warnock was able to secure $120 million in the bill for aviation workforce development efforts.
108,000 aviation employees across 800 different aviation companies, including Delta Airlines and Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, currently call Georgia home.
“I’m a big advocate for increasing the pipeline for creating good paying jobs,” Warnock said. “There’s hardly a field that suffers more from a lack of diversity than aviation. At the same time, we need more pilots. We need more aviation mechanics. We need people who are prepared to work in the various jobs in that industry.”
In all, $240 million is for opportunities by higher educational institutions to help establish a more representative workforce pipeline.
A Georgia university’s Aviation Program is ready to receive more students
Meanwhile, those funds will help Middle Georgia State University’s Aviation Program. Located in Macon, MGA is one of a few institutions in the United States that offer baccalaureate degrees in aviation and is certified by the FAA covering maintenance training, 4-year flight training, and the air traffic control collegiate training initiative and the most affordable flight education program in the country.
“The School of Aviation has experienced year over year increases in minority populations enrolling and graduating in high demand areas including flight, maintenance, and air traffic control,” says Adon Clark, the Dean of Aviation. “MGA’s School of Aviation continues to exceed all industry averages in serving minority populations. 18% of our Fall 2023 students are female and 38% of our Fall 2023 students identify as minority.”
Costs are the highest barrier to entry
Today, the average cost of obtaining a private pilot’s license ranges from $8,300 to $12,300. The average cost of obtaining a commercial pilot’s license ranges from $28,000 to $90,000. An African-American pilot said the cost of obtaining his Private Pilot’s License in 2009 set him back $10,000. Meanwhile, he eventually racked up $165,000 in debt for the rest of his required pilot’s licenses and aviation degree. That private pilot’s license today can easily cost about $14,000 or higher depending on where a person trains. But, the Aviation Act is positioned to benefit from an influx of Black and minority students seeking to join the ever-expanding world of aviation.
“Additionally, MGA provides aircraft and instructors each year, for the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals – OBAP ACE Academy for youth ages 14 – 18,” Clark continued. “MGA also participates in other events around the southeast aimed at exposing youth to aviation as a career. As such, MGA will continue to be uniquely positioned to support Georgia’s aerospace industry’s workforce needs and feed the pipeline with highly trained and skilled graduates from diverse backgrounds throughout the State of Georgia and beyond.”
There is no field that suffers more from a lack of diversity than aviation. At the same time, there is a need for more pilots and mechanics.
City of Atlanta maintains local control of The World’s Busiest Airport
This brings it back to the successful negotiations made by Senator Warnock. In the Aviation Act, Warnock secured some certainty that the state legislature cannot wrest control of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport from the City of Atlanta. In 2019, then-State Senator Burt Jones and four Republican legislators authored a bill titled Senate Bill 131. Georgia Republicans believed Hartsfield-Jackson should be wholly owned and operated by the State for procurement and oversight purposes. The bill later died in the House of Representatives.
Warnock says local control is important. Even though he says Republicans believe in local control only when it is convenient for them.
“And the struggle itself creates economic uncertainty for the citizens of Atlanta,” Warnock said. “The control of tax dollars that would have moved from Atlanta, the legacy of Maynard Jackson, and economic prosperity that that he created would’ve moved from Atlanta to the state. And I think that’s a poor outcome.”
Georgia has a wonderful collection of smaller airports. From DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, Fulton County Airport aka Charlie Brown Field, to Savannah-Hilton Head International, there are dozens of city or county-owned airports in the state. Lowering the financial burden is the chief barrier to entry into aviation. The Aviation Act, as part of the FAA Reauthorization, seeks to do that while maintaining local control of Hartsfield-Jackson, building up the regional airports in Georgia, and addressing the lack of participation by Blacks, minorities and women in aviation.
“We’ve doubled the amount of money that we put in the workforce development space,” Warnock said.