The coronavirus pandemic has hampered pilot training programs overseas, and Japan's aviation industry is bracing for a shortage of commercial aviators in the near future.
Airlines and universities often dispatch trainees to facilities abroad, but the countries hosting them have stopped issuing visas to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, bringing training programs to a halt.
As the large number of pilots recruited during the bubble economy from the late 1980s to early 1990s will start retiring around 2030, the government, airlines and universities have been trying to increase training to counter a pilot shortage that could hamper flight services.