Posted on 02/12/2014 6:54:34 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
A widening shortage of U.S. airline pilots is spotlighting the structure of an industry built on starting salaries for regional-airline pilots that are roughly equivalent to fast-food wages.
The shortage's toll rose Tuesday, as Republic Airways Holdings Inc., one of the nation's largest regional carriers, said it would remove 27 of its 243 aircraft from operation because it couldn't find enough qualified pilots. The news, which followed service disruptions at other airlines, sent Republic's shares down 4.1% to finish at $9.45.
Starting pilot salaries at 14 U.S. regional carriers average $22,400 a year, according to the largest U.S. pilots union. Some smaller carriers pay as little as $15,000 a year. The latter is about what a full-time worker would earn annually at the $7.25-an-hour federal minimum wage.
Regional carriers are a key link in the U.S. air-travel system. Big airlines, whose pilot salaries are much higher, outsource about half of their domestic flights to these smaller partners to save money.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Why? This is old news.
Don't you remember the Continental Connection plane crash in Buffalo?
The media has covered the problem since then. Go watch the PBS Frontline show, "Flying Cheap"
I had no idea.
I dunno. What does a “starting pilot” do? Watch the actual pilot, and do gopher tasks? OJT?
Next question is, what do the pilots get paid when they become actually responsible for the flight?
Some of the regional airports are very tiny, seeing only 4 flights per day (commuter shuttles) in addition to hobby traffic. And that IS all they pay.
Nope, it’s not an ‘oh poor me’ union piece.
I had a family member...and I was shocked.
Standby CEOs for small companies often get paid little.
You're right. There should be a law that CEOs cannot make more than 10 times the lowest paid employee, with a 20 year mandatory minimum sentence for any violations.
Economics tells us that if there is a pilot shortage, and it is the low salaries that are to blame, then pilot salaries will rise to attract new candidates.
if demand for pilots exist... and demand for flights exist... then salaries for pilots would be up.
if salaries are down, yet supply is short, then profitability must be very low.
of course, the individual pilot can only impact the profit generated by the single plane he/she is on at the time. payment for all members of the crew along with maintenance and overhead, would have to come out of the passengers on that one plane.
Passenger miles in billions by year.
2000: 500
2001: 472
2002: 469 Both 01 and 02 were pretty obviously impacted by 9/11.
2003: 493
2004: 543
2005: 569
2006: 575
2007: 592
2008: 568
2009: 539
2010: 552
2011: 564
2012: 569
2013: 484 (thru October only) Probably around 575 or 580 for the year.
It seems pretty clear that the primary factor affecting air travel miles is the general economy.
Gasoline costs twice as much under the Great One.
Over the eight years of the Bush administration, gas averaged $2.43. During the five years so far of the Obama administration, it's averaged $3.18. That's an increase of 31%, not 100%.
Back in the 90’s the Forest Service was offering me $9.95/hour to fly their Vietnam era Huey water-bombing forest fires.
The helo was based about 2 hours drive from my home, so I said that I would camp out for the duration of the fire season. Instead, they insisted that I must rent an apartment in that town to establish residency...for a 3 month Fire Season contract.
“Thanks, but I don’t need the hours or the job that bad.”
Many, many flying jobs are prime examples of the Law of Supply & Demand. There is a large pool of pilots needing to accumulate flight hours to make insurance companies happy. Now, with the FAA’s new requirement that co-pilots have 1500 hours for scheduled commercial operations, low time pilots will almost pay their employers in order to accumulate those magical 1500 hours.
Union or not you should believe this. Commuter airline pilots will often band together to share an apartment. I know a guy whose son shared an apartment with 5 other pilots to make ends meet. Why do they do it? Because they want to fly or set on a course they didn’t understand and can’t easily get off of.
Flying for the larger carriers is not much better for starting right seaters. The work is unreliable, the pay terms and time keeping requirements are insane. It is pretty much just an hourly job. One rate for each of flying, standby, in the cockpit waiting to take off, flight preparation and so forth. The pilots didn’t do themselves any favors decades ago when they set up the union.
Being an airline pilot is becoming a job of last resort for a lot of military pilots coming out. The job pretty much stinks these days.
Old guys with seniority do OK. The system was designed around them and seniority. Every body else is pretty much just getting by.
“You could say that exact thing about physicians, CEO’s and on down the line. “
Actually, along that line of thought, how much do doctors in residency, or doing rounds as students get paid compared to when they are out on their own? CEOs with less than a dozen employees when they are still working in the mail room or as interns? ...and on down the line.
I recall getting paid rather less than minimum wage during my training time, and first tour on the job...and once I had the experience, quadrupled my pay.
We call people we fly “souls”.
I wouldn’t take responsibility for that for so little.
“There should be a law that CEOs cannot make more than 10 times the lowest paid employee,”
Oh please. Given the typical ratio of employees to CEOs in the types of businesses you are seemingly thinking of, it would rarely make a substantial pay difference to the employees.
Covetting is not good thing.
You are correct. It took many years for my brother to crack into the decent wage scenario. Until then, when he was first starting out and had to build up flight time, I was making more money than him. As a secretary.
I think that there are some foreign airlines that will take a college graduate with no flying experience. Another way is to join the military (doesn't have to be in aviation), and then use the education benefits to attend an aeronautical university.
there should be a plethora of management and CEO’s
It’s also why there are “too many lawyers!” and “legal fees are too high!”
The story I read says you typically graduate with 300 hours and then have to add the 1200 hours to get 1500 on your own nickel. In multi-engine that’s a lot of dough, isn’t it?
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