Regional Carriers Scramble for Pilots
Joe Cortez October 23, 2017
Air Force announces recall of 1,000 pilots, forcing smaller airlines to find more aviators quickly.
An announcement to bring 1,000 former Air Force pilots out of retirement and back into service could affect flyers, as many of them could be coming from regional airlines. USA Today reports that the plan would take pilots out of airline service and back into the military for up to three years – leaving the smaller carriers desperate for new talent.
According to previous reports, the Air Force currently demands 1,500 more pilots than they have. Despite incentive programs, the needed number of aviators have not answered the call to service. To help bring down the deficit, the president signed an executive order authorizing the recall of up to 1,000 former military pilots.
“This is a supply-demand mismatch,” Air Force chief of staff Gen. David Goldfein told USA Today in April 2017. “The nation as a whole is producing less pilots than we need in order to service commercial, business and business aviation.”
As a result, regional airlines believe that they could be at risk of losing their workforce, forcing them to find replacement pilots in a hurry. This is not a new problem for the industry: Earlier in 2017, Boeing projected North America alone would need 117,000 new pilots by 2037.
Both the industry and pilot unions disagree on a potential solution. The Regional Airline Association is lobbying to reduce the number of hours required for new first officers to enter service to 750 for military pilots and 1,000 for college graduates. Meanwhile, JetBlue has started their own academy program to lure new aviators. On the other side, unions say that increasing the starting pay would go a long way towards bringing in entry-level pilots.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
