Commuter airline hiring woes
02-13-2014, 04:40 AM
#1
CH46 Pilot to the Stars
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Joined APC: Mar 2011
Position: Furloughed
Posts: 61
Commuter airline hiring woes
<<The chief executive of one of the airlines hardest hit by a shortage of U.S. airline pilots said the impact on fliers is just beginning, with no quick fixes in sight.>>
Here's a quick fix idea: Stop flying RJs from Denver to San Antonio, New Orleans to Newark, etc etc etc. Bring back mainline flying....what a concept.
Republic Airways CEO Says Pilot Shortage Will Cause More Service Cuts
Feb. 12, 2014 12:24 p.m. ET
The chief executive of one of the airlines hardest hit by a shortage of U.S. airline pilots said the impact on fliers is just beginning, with no quick fixes in sight.
"The short-term answer is the aviation industry is just going to get smaller," Bryan Bedford, CEO of Republic Airways Holdings Inc., said in an interview late Tuesday after the airline disclosed it would be removing 27 of its 243 aircraft from service because of a lack of qualified pilots.
A six-month-old federal law that increased the minimum flight experience for most commercial aviators to 1,500 hours from 250 has dramatically increased the time and cost to become a pilot. Meanwhile, airlines have to replace thousands of senior pilots that are hitting the mandatory retirement age of 65.
Big airlines are poised over the next few years to hire thousands of pilots from the smaller regional carriers that fly shorter routes for them. The regional carriers are struggling to find replacements. That shortage is now affecting fliers, with several other airlines also curbing service this month.
Mr. Bedford said service cuts will deepen, starting with the elimination of smaller aircraft that serve the smallest cities.
"If a city can't support a larger-capacity aircraft, then those airplanes will go where they can be supported," he said.
About 18,000 big-airline pilots are scheduled to retire over the next decade – far more than the regional airlines employ today, Mr. Bedford said. Meanwhile, few new pilots are showing up.
"We've historically had a system that would produce a few thousand pilot candidates a year," he said. "That is now essentially been broken by" the new training rules.
Republic hired 450 pilots last year, about 50 fewer than it needed, Mr. Bedford said. This year, it needs 600 pilots, but expects to find 350.
Republic lost about 11% of its roughly 2,200 pilots to big-airline partners last year, and expects to lose another 16% this year.
One issue for regional carriers is that they pay low starting salaries. At 14 U.S. regional airlines, starting pay for a pilot averages $22,400 a year.
"It is clear pay is going to go up in the industry and that is fine, as long as it is driven by base economics," Mr. Bedford said. Republic is near a deal with its pilots that "would result in a significant increase in [co-pilot] pay," he said.
But he said that pay increases would make little dent in the shortage.
He said the core issue is the new training requirements, which were mandated by Congress in response to a 2009 crash of a regional jet that killed 50 people. Mr. Bedford criticized the new rules as taking a quantitative, instead of qualitative, approach to training.
Regional airlines used to hire pilots with 500 hours and give them on-the-job-training, he said. Now, to achieve 1,500 hours, would-be airline pilots must "tow banners, crop dust, hoist sky divers, run freight at night, to try to build time in single-piston airplanes," he said. "That is not exactly the experience that is going to be relevant in the commercial-airline world, but it is essentially what we're asking them to do."
Amending the training law would require Congress action and "there is not a lot of political will to address it," he said—though he expects industry groups to push for change.
Other countries that have faced similar problems before have "had to reformulate the whole vocation of the pilot, and that is ultimately the type of approach that is going to be required here," Mr. Bedford said. "We should have that conversation today and get ahead of it, before the problem that seems difficult today gets a heck of a lot worse."
Here's a quick fix idea: Stop flying RJs from Denver to San Antonio, New Orleans to Newark, etc etc etc. Bring back mainline flying....what a concept.
Republic Airways CEO Says Pilot Shortage Will Cause More Service Cuts
Feb. 12, 2014 12:24 p.m. ET
The chief executive of one of the airlines hardest hit by a shortage of U.S. airline pilots said the impact on fliers is just beginning, with no quick fixes in sight.
"The short-term answer is the aviation industry is just going to get smaller," Bryan Bedford, CEO of Republic Airways Holdings Inc., said in an interview late Tuesday after the airline disclosed it would be removing 27 of its 243 aircraft from service because of a lack of qualified pilots.
A six-month-old federal law that increased the minimum flight experience for most commercial aviators to 1,500 hours from 250 has dramatically increased the time and cost to become a pilot. Meanwhile, airlines have to replace thousands of senior pilots that are hitting the mandatory retirement age of 65.
Big airlines are poised over the next few years to hire thousands of pilots from the smaller regional carriers that fly shorter routes for them. The regional carriers are struggling to find replacements. That shortage is now affecting fliers, with several other airlines also curbing service this month.
Mr. Bedford said service cuts will deepen, starting with the elimination of smaller aircraft that serve the smallest cities.
"If a city can't support a larger-capacity aircraft, then those airplanes will go where they can be supported," he said.
About 18,000 big-airline pilots are scheduled to retire over the next decade – far more than the regional airlines employ today, Mr. Bedford said. Meanwhile, few new pilots are showing up.
"We've historically had a system that would produce a few thousand pilot candidates a year," he said. "That is now essentially been broken by" the new training rules.
Republic hired 450 pilots last year, about 50 fewer than it needed, Mr. Bedford said. This year, it needs 600 pilots, but expects to find 350.
Republic lost about 11% of its roughly 2,200 pilots to big-airline partners last year, and expects to lose another 16% this year.
One issue for regional carriers is that they pay low starting salaries. At 14 U.S. regional airlines, starting pay for a pilot averages $22,400 a year.
"It is clear pay is going to go up in the industry and that is fine, as long as it is driven by base economics," Mr. Bedford said. Republic is near a deal with its pilots that "would result in a significant increase in [co-pilot] pay," he said.
But he said that pay increases would make little dent in the shortage.
He said the core issue is the new training requirements, which were mandated by Congress in response to a 2009 crash of a regional jet that killed 50 people. Mr. Bedford criticized the new rules as taking a quantitative, instead of qualitative, approach to training.
Regional airlines used to hire pilots with 500 hours and give them on-the-job-training, he said. Now, to achieve 1,500 hours, would-be airline pilots must "tow banners, crop dust, hoist sky divers, run freight at night, to try to build time in single-piston airplanes," he said. "That is not exactly the experience that is going to be relevant in the commercial-airline world, but it is essentially what we're asking them to do."
Amending the training law would require Congress action and "there is not a lot of political will to address it," he said—though he expects industry groups to push for change.
Other countries that have faced similar problems before have "had to reformulate the whole vocation of the pilot, and that is ultimately the type of approach that is going to be required here," Mr. Bedford said. "We should have that conversation today and get ahead of it, before the problem that seems difficult today gets a heck of a lot worse."
02-13-2014, 07:56 AM
#4
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2012
Posts: 639
I don't disagree that there's a shortage of pilots willing to fly for substandard wages, BUT, let's not forget that the UAL pilot contract scope (Section 1) mandates a huge drawdown of 50 seat aircraft and limits the number of 76 seat aircraft by 2015. Let's not let these guys use the "pilot shortage" to blame the effects of a contract they (UAL Mgmt.) signed.
02-13-2014, 08:16 AM
#5
On Reserve
Joined APC: Jun 2013
Position: B737
Posts: 16
Couldn't agree more. I wouldn't trade my aerial mapping days and cargo hauling nights. There are some good articles out there regarding the Asiana crash. Pushing buttons and monitoring the Autopilot from 200 hours...next thing you know a hand flown visual becomes an "abnormal" procedure.
02-13-2014, 08:59 AM
#6
Banned
Joined APC: Aug 2010
Position: next to chronic complainers...
Posts: 364
There will never be a pilot shortage!! It's a myth spread by RAA to supply enough competition amongst pilots to fight for pilot jobs at the lowest pay.
American Eagle Pilots Spurn Givebacks, Vow to Seek Jobs - Bloomberg
Pilot union leaders at American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL)’s regional unit rejected a proposed contract requiring labor concessions and said they would begin helping members find jobs at other carriers.
American sought givebacks to cut operating costs at American Eagle in exchange for adding more large regional jets, the Air Line Pilots Association told members in a message today. Eagle pilots had agreed to concessions while former American parent AMR Corp. reorganized in bankruptcy before the December merger with US Airways Group Inc.
Union chiefs’ rejection means members won’t vote on the offer. AMR’s contract with American pilots limited most of Eagle’s flying to jets with 50 or fewer seats, which are costly to operate at current fuel prices and disliked by passengers. Plans to divest Eagle were disrupted when Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR sought court protection in 2011.
“Our pilots decided they were not willing to work for less than the company is already paying our peers,” union Chairman William Sprague said in the message. “We will now begin the process of assisting our pilots in identifying alternative career options within the industry.”
American didn’t immediately comment on the union’s move. In exchange for the concessions, American had agreed that Eagle would get 60 new, 76-seat regional jets from Embraer SA (ERJ), larger than anything now flown by the commuter carrier.
American has “made it clear” that it wouldn’t negotiate further if the contract was rejected and that it would shrink Eagle “until it is small enough to liquidate,” the union said. Other commuter carriers also fly regional routes for American under the Eagle name.
American Eagle Pilots Spurn Givebacks, Vow to Seek Jobs - Bloomberg
Pilot union leaders at American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL)’s regional unit rejected a proposed contract requiring labor concessions and said they would begin helping members find jobs at other carriers.
American sought givebacks to cut operating costs at American Eagle in exchange for adding more large regional jets, the Air Line Pilots Association told members in a message today. Eagle pilots had agreed to concessions while former American parent AMR Corp. reorganized in bankruptcy before the December merger with US Airways Group Inc.
Union chiefs’ rejection means members won’t vote on the offer. AMR’s contract with American pilots limited most of Eagle’s flying to jets with 50 or fewer seats, which are costly to operate at current fuel prices and disliked by passengers. Plans to divest Eagle were disrupted when Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR sought court protection in 2011.
“Our pilots decided they were not willing to work for less than the company is already paying our peers,” union Chairman William Sprague said in the message. “We will now begin the process of assisting our pilots in identifying alternative career options within the industry.”
American didn’t immediately comment on the union’s move. In exchange for the concessions, American had agreed that Eagle would get 60 new, 76-seat regional jets from Embraer SA (ERJ), larger than anything now flown by the commuter carrier.
American has “made it clear” that it wouldn’t negotiate further if the contract was rejected and that it would shrink Eagle “until it is small enough to liquidate,” the union said. Other commuter carriers also fly regional routes for American under the Eagle name.
02-13-2014, 01:10 PM
#10
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2010
Position: EWR 777 FO
Posts: 378
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