Regional carrier Republic Airways, which flies for American, Delta and United, last month petitioned the U.S. Some carriers like Frontier and regional airline SkyWest are recruiting pilots from Australia under a special visa to help ease the shortfall, but the numbers are small compared with their overall ranks and hiring goals. “We could use 200 pilots right now,” he said. It takes Mesa an estimated 120 days to replace a pilot who gives two weeks’ notice to go to another airline, according to Ornstein. “If we don’t fly our airplanes we lose money. “We never fathomed attrition levels like this,” said Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein. Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group, which flies for American and United, lost nearly $43 million in the last quarter as flight cuts mounted. While hiring and retention bonuses have returned at those airlines, pay is lower there than at majors, and they are recruiting aggressively from those smaller carriers. The shortage is particularly acute at regional carriers that feed major airlines’ hubs from smaller cities. airlines are trying to hire more than 12,000 pilots combined this year alone, more than double the previous record in annual hiring, according to Kit Darby, a pilot pay consultant and a retired United captain. Now airlines are desperate to hire and train pilots, but the rush may take too long to avoid flight cuts. airline who took an early retirement package in 2020. “I feel like I walked away at the pinnacle,” said one former captain for a major U.S. Airlines handed out early retirement packages to thousands of pilots and other employees aimed to cut labor bills when travel demand cratered during the depths of crisis.
The Covid pandemic halted pilot hiring as training and licensing slowed. Kirby estimated the regional airlines United works with currently have about 150 airplanes grounded because of the pilot shortage. “The pilot shortage for the industry is real, and most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there simply aren’t enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said on a quarterly earnings call in April. American Airlines is selling bus tickets for some short routes.īut some airline executives warn the shortage could take years to solve. airlines, including Frontier, are recruiting some pilots from Australia. Liability for the information given being complete or correct.Several U.S. Projections show the global pilot shortage could reach 50,000 pilots by 2025. Additionally, in the next few years, a very large proportion of current pilots will reach retirement age leaving a considerable gap of expertise. The pilot shortage will be accelerated once the pandemic endsĪs the size of the aircraft fleet will continue to increase worldwide, coupled with the recovery of air travel to 2019 levels by 2023, the pilot shortage will be imminent. Now that air travel has been catching up, many airlines have been forced into a reduction in the number of flight schedules due to a shortage of pilots and crew, leading to a sudden surge in the number of flight cancellations.
This led to a surplus of pilots and airlines having to offer them early retirement packages and letting go of too many flight attendants in order to cut down their costs. The coronavirus pandemic had a tremendous impact on the aviation industry, reducing the number of flights by more than half in 2020. The pandemic has drastically reduced the number of flights, which had a direct effect on pilots This led to mandating additional certification and higher flight time requirements for prospective pilots.
Daily mail pilot shortage series#
was the implementation of stricter hiring standards by the FAA for entry-level pilots, after a series of highly publicized airplane accidents. dollars may be spent just for flight training and education thus discouraging others from pursuing a career in the aviation industry.Īnother reason for the experienced pilot shortage in the U.S. Prospective pilots are personally responsible for securing their own FAA credentials.
One of the reasons for the experienced shortage in airline pilots is due to the rigorously expensive application process for becoming an airline pilot, especially in the United States.
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