As Aviation Personnel International (API) marks its 55th anniversary at NBAA-BACE, a new survey finds compensation and benefits topping the workforce concerns of Part 91 flight department leaders.

Last month, the US business aviation recruitment company invited Part 91 flight department leaders in its network to participate in a workforce survey. One question asked them to share their biggest workforce concerns over the next one to three years.

Compensation and benefits topped the list at 45 per cent. Recruiting qualified aviation professionals and work schedule expectations and work-life balance tied for second at 39 per cent each. Developing future leaders and talent followed at 38 per cent, then retaining current employees at 36 per cent.

In fact, compensation and benefits also led when leaders were asked which factors have the greatest impact on their ability to retain employees today. Seventy-four percent selected it, followed by schedule predictability and time off at 54 per cent, then department culture at 44 per cent.

“Compensation is clearly top of mind, but a raise isn't always the answer,” states Sheryl Barden, CAM Fellow, chief executive officer of Aviation Personnel International. “Aviation leaders want to know what the market is paying and whether their people are being paid fairly. If not, they need help making the case to HR. And sometimes the job has changed so much that the title and salary haven't kept up.”

Leaders also turn to API for guidance on workforce issues that go beyond pay and hiring.

“Sometimes a leader calls and says, ‘Can I run something by you?’” adds Jennifer E. Pickerel, president of Aviation Personnel International. “They might be worried about upcoming retirements, wondering what their employees really think or dealing with a situation they haven't faced before. They just want someone they trust to talk it through with.”

Industrial psychologist Janice K. Barden founded API 55 years ago, in 1971, after 16 years as an aviation psychologist and recruiter. Her belief was ahead of its time: technical qualifications alone don't determine whether someone will succeed in a flight department. Drawing on that experience, she developed a proprietary approach that considered the whole person and the match between that person and the organisation.

After Sheryl Barden joined in 2001, she began expanding services beyond recruitment as clients turned to the team with other workforce challenges. The firm added aviation outplacement and compensation consulting, along with custom benchmarking on issues such as pilot commuting and executive travel policies. More recently, it introduced API WorkWell, an organisational health and wellness programme that focuses on culture and employee engagement.

Culture and compensation are also the focus of API's two education sessions at NBAA-BACE this week.

Founded in 1971, Aviation Personnel International is the longest-running HR and recruiting resource dedicated to business aviation. API has worked with more than 1,000 flight departments during its 55-year history. Today, its team combines aviation workforce knowledge with human resources expertise to provide aviation executive search and professional recruitment, compensation consulting, aviation outplacement and API WorkWell, its organisational health and wellness programme. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, with team members across the USA, API is a certified Women-Owned Small Business and Women's Business Enterprise.

API fielded the survey September 17–26, 2026, inviting more than 200 senior leaders in its contact network who are responsible for U.S. Part 91 flight departments. Seventy-five responded. The survey was not a random sample.

Respondents could select up to three options on the workforce-concerns and retention questions. Nine responses exceeded that limit on the workforce-concerns question; five did so on retention. Those question responses were excluded from the respective analyses. That left 66 responses for workforce concerns and 70 for retention. Percentages are based on those totals and may total more than 100 per cent because respondents could select up to three options. Results reflect selection frequency, not a forced ranking.

Aviation Personnel International was the first female-owned and operated retained search firm dedicated exclusively to business aviation when Janice K. Barden founded it in New Orleans in July 1971.

The 2026 NBAA Compensation Survey, published August 2026 and based on 352 member participants covering 4,090 flight department employees, found business aviation salaries rising by nearly seven per cent in some categories.