Half of Britons see commercial airline pilots as obsolete by 2025
This news comes in the wake of the rise in prominence of the self-driving car. Despite the majority of people believing that pilots won’t be required on commercial airlines by 2025, only 3% stated that they would feel safe as a passenger on a pilotless plane.
According to a recent poll by a UK travel agency, the majority of Britons believe that commercial planes will not be flown by pilots by the year 2025; and will instead be self-flying. However, the overwhelming majority of people admit that they would not feel safe as a passenger on a self-flying plane.
The team at online travel agency www.sunshine.co.uk conducted the research as part of an ongoing study into Britons’ attitudes towards holidays and flights. 2,744 people aged 18 and over from around the UK took part in the study and the respondents were asked for their opinions on the future of air travel.
Respondents were asked: ‘How long do you think it will be before all commercial flights are self-flying, as opposed to manned by pilots?’ If they felt like this would never be a reality, they could state ‘never’. However, only 4% of the people taking part felt this would never happen. The majority, 52%, believed that self-flying commercial planes would be in the air by 2025 and that pilots would be obsolete by that point.
When all respondents were asked if they would feel safe as a passenger on a pilotless, self-flying plane though, only 3% said that they would. Ninety-one per cent of the respondents said they would not feel safe in such a situation, whilst the remaining 6% were unsure how they would feel as a passenger on a self-flying commercial aircraft.
When asked how they would feel about being a passenger on a commercial aircraft that was remotely piloted (i.e. if the aircraft was unmanned, but a pilot took-off and landed the plane remotely, in the same way that drones currently operate) 78% of the respondents said they would feel ‘safer’ than if the aircraft was purely self-flying.
Furthermore, 65% of the respondents taking part in the poll felt that the majority of airport staff would be replaced by machines or gadgets within the next 10 years, such as those on check-in desks, at security points and passport control.
Chris Clarkson, Managing Director of sunshine.co.uk, said: “With self-driving cars not far from being a widespread possibility on our roads and unmanned drones already a reality, it makes sense to think that the same could happen in our commercial airspace and beyond. Pilots already have the help of autopilot during flights, so I’d say it’s not all that unrealistic to think that they may become redundant altogether in ten years or so.
“However, judging by our results, a lot would have to be done to reassure people that it was a safe way to travel; because so many people at the moment would feel unsafe as a passenger on such a flight. It’s hard to predict exactly when and how flights will change and the advancements we will witness, but it’s certainly one area to watch.”
