Posted on 03/06/2016 7:56:20 AM PST by SkyPilot
Mid-sized and regional airlines in the US are suffering from a pilot shortage that could threaten the health of the broader US aviation industry.
The labor shortfall has led to canceled flights at carriers like Mesa Airlines and Silver Airways. That has hit smaller airports, such as in Redding, California, or Erie, Pennsylvania, according to figures from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
The staffing crunch could also constrain traffic for larger companies like United Airlines and Delta Air Lines that depend on the mid-sized companies to serve rural consumers and feed customers into their networks.
"It's becoming a crisis at some carriers, resulting in the cancellation of flights and other serious disruptions," said Patrick Smith, a pilot who runs "Ask the Pilot," an aviation blog.
Republic Airways, which operates flights for Delta, United and American Airlines, filed for bankruptcy protection last month, citing the labor crunch.
"We've attempted to restructure the obligations on our out-of-favor aircraft - made so by a nationwide pilot shortage - and to increase our revenues," said Bryan Bedford, chief executive officer of Republic Airways.
"It's become clear that this process has reached an impasse and that any further delay would unnecessarily waste valuable resources of the enterprise."
Things at Republic came to a head last July, when the airline acknowledged cutting four percent of its flights due to a dearth of pilots. Delta subsequently filed suit against Republic, alleging breach of contract.
- Pay gap -
Aviation industry insiders cite a number of factors for the drop-off in pilots: longer working hours, contentious relations with management, fewer job protections and industry turnover with the expected retirement of some 18,000 pilots through 2022.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
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Anyone beside me watching “Highway thru Hell”, notice the number of foreign drivers on the(crashed) big rigs?
Some don’t look like they are really qualified. Last night one jumped out of a moving rig because he thought it was on fire. It had over heated and was steaming anti-freeze.
“Regional carriers pay pilots an average of $27,350 per year, according to Paul Ryder, a captain at ExpressJet Airlines who is active with the ALPA. That compares with an annual salary of $103,390 at large airlines, according to US Labor Department data.”
That is because the regionals are populated with young pilots accruing hours and once they get the hours and experience they move on. . .hence the lower average salary.
1,500hrs is minimum hrs for ATP rating, a MUST HAVE ticket for the majors.
“Today, the regional sector accounts for half or more of all flying, and pilots are realizing that a job with a regional often means an entire... career with a regional,” Smith said. “
. . .and they are not happy about it.
“As the article points out, the pay for regional pilots is atrocious”
Not just regionals, but for the majors as well, not much better than the regionals.
“The downsizing of the military has had a very detrimental effect on the airline’s pool of candidates.”
Very true.
UPT classes are about as small as they have ever been.
From your lips to gawd’s ear. . .perhaps with increased fares then all the unwashed, entitled, spoiled, pajama-wearing-pillow-carrying, loud toads (not counting children) that fly once a year to see Aunt Agnus would take a bus (or drive).
“The fighter and A10 jocks mostly work for contractors. None of them fly much any more at all.”
Interesting but not in my experience.
Living in the DFW area, and a former (retired) USAF A-10 fighter pilot (A-10 is a fighter, see previous threads on that subject) and F-15E fighter pilot, almost all of my peers that jumped early or waited until retirement went straight to the majors. I know of no one that went to fly the corporate route or those rent-a-jet companies, and only two that I know of went with a regional (both wanted to be close to their original home-patch).
That and neither pilot had training and experience when it came to icing and how to recover from a stall.
Mileage varies. I am sure there are more of them down there that I know up here.
True. All of what you said. However, read a few of the posts are the language in the article. Pilots are now finding they can expect to stay in the Regionals for much longer, perhaps their entire flying career. Most pilots can “embrace the suck” for awhile, but not forever.
Just curious if you knew what the average first officer pay these days was at FedEx, Delta, American, etc?
When I was a little kid, we would fly a few times a year as a family. My mom worked in the reservations dept of an airline, and we got some space A privlidges.
Back in the early to mid-70s, people dressed up to travel. The airport lounges were filled with polite, well groomed, well attired passengers.
Today's airport terminals......well, you know.
“My question ... do US carriers have similar pilot training programs.”
Delta just started doing this.
True.
Sadly. . .a day gone by and likely never to be seen again.
Not off-hand. When we get together discussions are more of the “old man” type, but I can ask. . .
“JetBlue Airways Corp., breaking with historical practices at U.S. airlines, plans to recruit potential pilots with no flight experience and provide its own training under a proposal awaiting approval from federal regulators”
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