The aviation industry may face a shortage of pilots, Boeing executives say.

Over the next two decades, the U.S. maker of commercial jetliners is projecting that there will be an estimated 30,000 more planes in the sky worldwide and that 466,650 pilots will be needed to fly them.

Capt. Domenic Di Iorio steers in a Boeing simulator. More simulators are being built to help airlines train pilots. (CBC)

In Canada and the United States alone — where baby boomer pilots are getting ready to retire — 97,350 new pilots will be required, the Chicago-based company said.

"If we wait to the last minute as an industry we will indeed face that shortage," said Roei Ganzarski, the chief customer officer for Boeing Training and Flight Services.

The shortage is already happening in some countries. Scroll down any airline job board and there are dozens of pilot positions advertised in Asia, including China, Korea and Vietnam, and in the Middle East.

The United Arab Emirates isn't waiting for pilots to apply. It came to Canada recently to recruit pilots from domestic airlines, offering big salaries and benefits. But the airline didn't allow CBC cameras inside to hear its pitch.

"What we don't want is for organizations to feel the need to fill that demand — to fill that shortage — by putting in maybe less competent, less proficient pilots," Ganzarski said.

Boeing is building more than a dozen flight simulators, with the majority of them heading overseas to China and the Middle East. All of them will help airlines train more pilots.

Industry officials said the simulator is an effective teaching tool, which helps fast-track new pilots without taking short cuts on safety.

"I think training programs are there to make sure we elevate and bring whatever skill level pilot that we encounter to that high benchmark or that high standard," said Jeff Roberts, group president of civil simulation products, training and services at CAE Inc.

But it has been difficult to recruit young people to become pilots. It takes up to five years to acquire the skills to fly commercially and many years after that before pilots can fly in the big leagues .

"It is difficult for the common person off the street to show up at a school and say 'I want to be a pilot for a career,'" said Capt. Domenic Di Iorio, CAE's instructor who tests pilots in Montreal. "It's very expensive."