Posted on 06/21/2022 10:45:03 AM PDT by EBH
DALLAS — American Airlines is dropping service to three U.S. airports in another sign of the pilot shortage facing the industry, officials said.
Starting Sept. 7, Fort Worth-based American will no longer fly to Islip N.Y.; Ithaca, N.Y.; and Toledo, Ohio.
Islip is located in Long Island. Ithaca is in western New York. And Toledo is in western Ohio.
American made the decision "in response to the regional pilot shortage affecting the airline industry," the company said in a statement Monday.
"We’re extremely grateful for the care and service our team members provided to our customers in Islip, Ithaca and Toledo, and are working closely with them during this time," American's statement said. "We’ll proactively reach out to customers scheduled to travel after this date to offer alternate arrangements."
The loss of service won't be a major cutback; American flies from Islip and Ithaca to Philadelphia up to twice a day, and from Toledo to Chicago twice a day.
But the dropped routes highlight something American is facing when it comes to regional carriers it operates. The airline said it currently has about 100 aircraft on the ground that it can't fly due to no regional pilots.
"Like many network carriers, we have reduced our regional flying in recent months in response to the regional pilot shortage," American said.
The airline said it anticipates the pilot shortage "could loom for some time." The company recently reached agreements with three of its regional carriers "to ensure we're able to operate a more reliable schedule in the future."
The pilot shortage has led to a tumultuous start to the summer travel season.
Hundreds of flights have been canceled and thousands more delayed over the last week. Airlines have blamed the travel issues on bad weather, COVID-19 absences and staff shortages.
Pilots have complained about airlines overbooking flights.
“They sold tickets to the traveling public in the spring and over the winter for summer vacation, that they can’t live up to," said American Airlines Capt. Dennis Tajer, who's with the Allied Pilots Association. "It’s driving us pilots crazy."
They did this to themselves due to the mask mandate. Anyone with travel problems better remember the consequences the next time they vote.
Brandon could turn this around in an instant by mandating yet another booster for commercial pilots. Then everyone would want to fly, knowing their safety is the most important thing (other than pilots dropping dead of heart attacks in the middle of flights).
Gee. Maybe they shouldn’t have fired pilots for not taking the death jab? At least they don’t get sick in midair.
They’ll make it up in hiked up ticket prices. We’ll end up paying.
Wasn’t one of the main culprits a massive increase in flying hours required by the Federal government to license pilots????
Time for Boeing and Airbus to start work on self-flying aircraft.
Automating a jet airliner should be a thousand times easier than automating an over-the-road long haul semi tractor.
Drones being flown out of trailers at DFW.
There must be a surplus of Drone Pilots.
“They did this to themselves due to the mask mandate. “
(TSA put the mandate on not the airlines.)
Most pilots were baby boomers and have reached retirement age.
Previously most pilots came from the military. Now most don’t.
Stricter FAA rules on pilots
Mask and vaccine mandates, and the fact that every pilot or even flight attendant who could retire is doing so because they don’t want to go to the mandatory LGBTUVXYZ training and be forced to “choose their pronouns.”
This country is going down the tubes thanks to the hideous mismanagement of “Biden” (in quotes because we don’t even know who is calling the shots, although Biden was a morally corrupt leftist even before his dementia).
“I will stop the motor of the world.”
—Atlas Shrugged
I am a retired Navy Pilot with an ATP, as I have stated on a post a couple of days ago, no airline will hire me because I do not have the clot shot.
I have a good friend who is a 787 Pilot for AA.
We were talking about this very subject yesterday.
The airplanes are basically fully automated now. Taxiing to and from the runway is about the only part that has no automation functionality. Airlines are moving in the direction of fully automated/reduced crew requirements now, and have been for some time.
They could free up a lot of pilot manpower by just taking one pitot out of the cockpit. Rules currently require two on domestic, and three on international.
They are also trying to get some rules changed regarding “rest time” to free up hours. Like allowing some “rest time’ to take place while they are in the cockpit.
I believe we will see fully automated flights with maybe someone in the cockpit to do the taxiing/preflight checks, etc, very soon.
Glad you didn’t take it, FRiend!
Why is there a pilot shortage?
Correct about the retirements.
We we’re headed for a pilot shortage anyway, with out all the COVID/clot shot BS, and the thousand or so additional training hours added to the mix.
Everything the government does just makes it worse.
I know...big surprise there.
Amen. I have friends who are being taken out of action because of super high blood pressure all of a sudden manifesting.
Decades ago the Flight Engineer position was eliminated from the cockpit.
The USAF remotely pilots their Predator Drones from Nellis AFB, NV, regardless of where in the world the Predator is actually flying. There are local drone pilots that take over the takeoff and landing duties, so that the satellite lag doesn't affect the delicate phase of flight.
Putting a single pilot in the cockpit, plus a fleet of remote pilots that can be assigned from aircraft to aircraft as needed might work as a first step towards full automation.
Most flights outa NY are one ways these days anyhow
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.