Colin Hornaday of Bryant, Ark., is only 13 years old, but he’s already chosen a landing spot for his career.

He wants to be a commercial pilot and is well on his way after logging 41.8 hours of flight time.

It’s a good omen for regional and foreign airlines coping with a pilot shortage.

Between 2016 and 2035 there will be 617,000 new commercial pilots needed worldwide, with 112,000 of those pilots needed in North America, according to Boeing Co., one of the world’s top airline manufacturers. During those years the number of jet airplanes in serv­ice will rise to 45,240, up from 22,510 now.

The International Civil Aviation Organization gave a similar forecast in a 2011 study. It said there were 463,386 commercial pilots globally as of 2010 and that the number would need to grow to 980,799 by 2030.

There’s no question that aspiring young pilots like Colin are needed with the industry expected to lose 60 percent of its pilots over the next 20 years due to attrition and the mandatory 65-year-old retirement age in the U.S., according to Louis Smith, president of Future & Active Pilot Advisors (FAPA).

Smith said a drop in pilot hiring between 2002 and 2012 was the worst he had ever seen, and then it all changed in 2013 when the major U.S. airlines started signing up more fliers.

“Last year there were 4,100 pilots hired at the nine major airlines, and we’re now entering a phase of the biggest pilot boom we’ve ever seen in the industry,” he said. “In 2017 we expect hiring at the major airlines to exceed 4,500 pilots.”

There is a void to fill at the lower end of the flying food chain because the nine major U.S. airlines are gobbling up pilots to fill vacant positions, Smith said.

“When they do hiring it creates attrition for all the smaller carriers below them — regional airlines, corporate flight departments and also the military,” he said. “So there is no shortage of pilots for the major airlines. They have the cream of the crop coming to them, and they don’t have any issues right now.”

Colin, who began flying at age 11, and his father, Steve, are being flown from Arkansas to Honolulu on Thursday, courtesy of Maryland-based Piedmont Airlines, to attend a FAPA forum at the Ala Moana Hotel on Saturday. The event is targeting high school and middle school students considering careers as professional pilots as well as enlisted military personnel who are separating from the service. The afternoon forum will coincide with a free regional pilot job fair during the morning.

Local aviation historian Peter Forman said issues that adversely affected the airline industry mostly have gone away following a post-Sept. 11, 2001, industry consolidation that saw mergers, bankruptcies, wage decreases and reduced retirement benefits. Congress also staved off a pilot shortage in December 2007 when it raised the mandatory retirement age of pilots to 65 from 60.

“Now airlines are showing robust profits, for the most part,” Forman said. “Pilot wages are quickly recovering as big raises at United and Delta are leading to pressure other airlines to pay substantially more. A major-airline pilot can now expect to earn well in excess of $200,000 per year as a wide-body captain. The industry is stable again.”

But some airlines are still feeling the pinch.

Indianapolis-based regional carrier Republic Airways, a former majority owner of Mokulele Airlines, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy last year, citing several quarters of falling revenue after having to ground aircraft amid a pilot shortage.

And Chinese airlines are offering foreign pilots $318,000 annual packages to attract new hires, according to news reports. Chinese airlines need to hire almost 100 pilots a week for the next 20 years to meet skyrocketing travel demand, the reports said.

“It’s not any surprise we’re running into a pilot shortage because of what 9/11 caused: the merger of numerous carriers and the failure of numerous carriers in bankruptcies,” said Tyler Tenbrink, manager of pilot recruitment for Piedmont Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines. “What it caused was instability within the industry … so when people started to consider a career in aviation, they stayed away because it wasn’t stable. Now it is.”

The head of the main pilots union in North America said the problem is not a pilot shortage, but that regional carriers are not paying enough to entice certified pilots into the cockpit.

In the U.S. there were 76,000 airline pilot jobs in 2015, and as of January there were 141,542 currently active pilots under age 65 holding an airline transport pilot certificate necessary to become an airline pilot, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Air Line Pilots Association President Tim Canoll, whose organization represents 54,000 pilots at 31 airlines in the U.S. and Canada, said the U.S. airline industry is on solid footing, but there remains an issue among North America regional airlines that involves wages and benefits.

“There is a pilot pay shortage at many regional airlines, with these carriers offering inadequate compensation and benefits and little opportunity for career advancement,” Canoll said.

Smith at FAPA echoed that observation, pointing to the “constant attrition of regional airline pilots not only leaving to go to the larger airlines, but pilots also leaving the industry itself because the regional airlines are not able to make a compelling offer to get qualified and willing pilots because of their cost structure.”

Piedmont Airlines recruiter Tenbrink said he connected with Colin after the teenager contacted the airline with questions about being a pilot.

“For a 13-, 14-year-old to ask about a career he wouldn’t be able to get into for maybe 10 years, that was unusual,” Tenbrink said. “He’s just starting out on his path, and I thought to myself why not hook him up with FAPA. I told him we’d fly him out (to a forum). He chose Hawaii. It shows Piedmont’s commitment to a younger generation. We’re not just looking for ‘right now.’ We’re looking to fulfill our needs in the future, and Colin’s going to be there. If we start inspiring teenagers now, we stand a chance to get people into the aviation pipeline and fill it up.”

The free Future Pilot Forum is scheduled for 1 to 5 p.m. The pilot job fair will be from 8 a.m. to noon. More information for both is available at FAPA.aero.

Colin, an eighth-grader at Bryant Middle School who turns 14 on March 10, said he became hooked on flying at the age of 7 when he began playing with a flight simulator on his iPod. He wavered back and forth from second to fourth grade about making flying a career but said by the time he reached fifth grade, he decided to make it “official.” “I decided I wanted to make that my career, and from then I decided to pursue it.”

So he joined the Central Arkansas Flying Club two years ago. He now flies a four-seat Cessna 172 and already has the required 40 hours of flight time to receive a private pilot’s license. But he needs to wait until the age of 16 to fly solo — under the supervision of an instructor on the ground — and age 17 to get his license.

Colin, who is only 4-foot-10 and 85 pounds, said the whole aspect of flying appeals to him.

“It’s a really cool feeling to be up in the air,” he said. “I inherited a love of flying — the feeling that comes along with it for takeoffs, the feeling of landing and accomplishment, and the feeling of reaching a destination. I love the views that come along with the beauty of the flight, and I love the flows checklist and all the preparing that comes into flying — mainly everything that comes together to reach your goal and what you’re trying to do in your flight prior to flying. Preparation prevents poor performance.”

Smith said it’s a sellers’ market with the price for pilots going up dramatically. He said the starting pay at some regional airlines for first-year pilots has gone from $25,000 two years ago to as much as $60,000 today for a first officer. He said pilots in their second year at larger airlines can make $150,000 plus benefits.

“It’s expensive to learn to fly, and people need to examine what they do for their life’s work,” he said. “If you get your four-year degree, the cost for tuition and flight training is $110,000 to $260,000, depending if you choose a public institution in your state or a private institution.”