"Take this bus to Cuba!"
Posted on 04/25/2022 7:41:31 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
Several US airlines struggling to find pilots amid a nationwide shortage are hiring bus companies to transport passengers to airports in cities that are only a short flight away.
American Airlines, the country’s largest airline, announced a partnership with a coach company earlier this month to transport passengers between Philadelphia International Airport and airports in Allentown, Pennsylvania [73 miles away] and Atlantic City, New Jersey [56 miles away].
American and the bus company, Landline, said the service would be an easier way to get to and from the two airports rather than flying. The service is scheduled to begin on June 3.
United Airlines also has deals with Landline, which is based in Fort Collins Colorado. United has offered one-stop connections on the buses from the Denver airport to or from Breckenridge and Fort Collins since April 1.
The bus company said it raised $28 million to expand its geographic reach.
The bus services come as airlines desperately try to hire new pilots. The shortage will likely cause ticket prices to skyrocket as airlines have been forced to ground some of their fleet, increasing demand.
Over the next 15 years, the United States will lose half of all its pilots, according to the Regional Airline Association, as the Federal Aviation Association mandates that all pilots must retire at 65. American Airlines expects 5,000 of its 15,000 pilots to retire in the next seven years, according to ABC. The pandemic also caused a wave of early retirements.
US airlines hope to add 13,000 pilots just this year, but America produces only between 5,000 and 7,000 pilots annually, according to United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, ABC News reported.
(More at The New York Post)
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Air Bus
The flight from NYC to Allentown has been a bus for many years.
It’s not indicated as such and surprised me when the bus pulled up to the gate rather than a plane.
Retire.
Uh huh.
As Ron White would have said: If only they had a globe.
Gotta re-write a Sinatra classic...
Drive me to the Moon
let me play among he stars...
The problem with demanding “diversity, inclusion, and equity” in all the hiring, is that you forego competence. There are no competent pilots leaving the military that can fill these positions and no competent people being enrolled in flight schools (you have to make room in those classes for diversity). Next, add in those many pilots who are not able to fly due to medical issues brought on by the vaccine, along with those they were discharged or fired due to NOT getting the vaccine, you end up with a pilot shortage. Who didn’t see this coming?
It’s basically what happened in the Soviet Union, where kids of peasants went to the front of the line over the old “rich”, better educated kids of the “bourgeoisie”.
So,you pay airline prices and you get a bus.🙄
"Take this bus to Cuba!"
A bus probably is faster than flying overall, considering all the folderol at the gates, waiting around for hours, loading planes, taxiing, etc.
Did the bus drivers have to take the horrid $hots??
Lotta guys took the packages over the last year.
Don’t know anyone who regretted it. Flying for a living aint what it used ta be.
But there’s still a ton o’ kids out there banging around in RJs for SkyWest, Compass etc and they’re gonna be movin up fast.
Which is good cuz they’re good, one of the best trained, seasoned generations in flying history - they fly modern glass cockpit jets every day in every kind of condition.
There is never a real pilot shortage.
Just an upper limit on what the majors are willing to cough up.
The article points out the that regional airlines have been grounding jets because they don't have enough pilots. United's regional partners alone grounded 150 planes already. That's more than 300 pilots/co-pilot pairs since many of those planes likely transition crews.
If you wanted to take a bus or drive to such and such an airport you would have. But you paid for an airline ticket to fly so you get there quicker.
I have used Allentown to Philly and would be darn mad if I was put on a bus when my car would be in Allentown’s parking lot.
It would be easy enough for me then to drive to Philly instead of using a bus.
But I have not flown since 2017 but if I had to I would look into all business airlines instead.
This delay issues going on and broken promises of a flight has gone to far.
My son and his wife had used Spirit airlines for a trip to a wedding in Michigan and the dang thing was canceled last minute. They had to frantically find a flight at the airport! What would have been a short 3 hour trip turned into a 12 hour trip because they could only get a flight that that had 2 stops and long lay overs.
They missed the family wedding rehearsal and dinner and got into Michigan after midnight!
Son paid extra with a different airlines to fly home (Delta). He was never using Spirit again.
YUP. I actually took the bus from Seatac to Blaine WA so someone from Vancouver can pick me up. I was a cheapskate back then in college..
We were just visiting NJ. In and out of Newark. One of the relatives had looked at going to Allentown which is so much easier getting in and out of, and closer to the wedding in western NJ.
“The flight from Nevada would have been 3 layovers and taken 14 hours. I figured dealing with Newark was worth it.” (Newark seemed a lot better now than when I last used it 30 years ago!)
Yeah, but it’s a lower threshold to get people into the regionals. Specifically the restricted ATP (R-ATP) has a variety of minimums that shoehorn people into SIC slots and gets them into the experience track.
https://www.boldmethod.com/blog/2013/08/1500-hour-rule-restricted-atp/
The number of people willing to put themselves into that mill is directly proportional to the salaries being paid. If those are reasonable, the requisite numbers will appear very quickly as people will pull the trigger and get into the various programs. The problem for decades is that the money has never been enough until the carriers are parking airplanes...like about now.
Then the signing bonuses show up, wages bump up, SIC to PIC transition times shorten, etc.
It’s an old and tired game and this aint the first time they’ve been in this situation. as the majors vacuum up regional pilots, there will be increased entrants into the regionals and all the various entry paths will quickly become filled. The ab initio programs like Aviat at United are an attempt at establishing a Euro carrier style direct pipeline, but it is really an auxiliary methd - the regionals as farm team is the dominant path now.
Mil pilots are nowhere near the fraction of the pilot population they used to be. They stay longer in the mil because it’s stable and well paid. Plus they can get hired after they do a full 20 which was not the case a few decades ago. But there simply arent as many of them.
So there may be temporary shortages but the majors will/are pulling up what they need, and the regionals have an easier time of onboarding new entrants....they just need to increase the $$$.
They know all that, but it’s a tight business so they hold the line on the costs as long as they can.
Airplanes identifying themselves as busses.
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