In the US, a shortage of pilots: what does this mean for passengers

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According to the company's forecast Boeingreleased this week, passenger and cargo airlines around the world will buy 41 000 new liners in the period from 2017 to 2036 year. To control them, they will need 637 000 new pilots. This means that the US will face a shortage of pilots, writes CNN.

According to a recent report Cowen & company, around 22 000 (more than 42%) active pilots of US airlines will retire over the next 10 years.

In the coming 20 years, the airlines of North America will need 117 000 new pilots, estimated Boeing. The coming resignations exceed the current full-time airline pilot corps, which is about 19 000 people.

Without a sufficient number of pilots, the number of airlines that can fly will be limited. Acute shortages can be detrimental to air travel and reduce air traffic in some cities.

This is already happening.

In the past month Horizon Airregional unit Alaska Airlines, said it canceled 6% of flights - more than 300 flights - from August to September due to a shortage of pilots.

Republic airways applied for bankruptcy protection in 2016, in part because she was forced to “ground the aircraft due to the lack of pilot resources”.

Pilot unions, instead of changing any standards to attract more new candidates, asked for higher wages for existing pilots in order to increase the economic attractiveness of the profession.

American Airlines (AAL), Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Airlines (UAL) signed new contracts with their pilots to increase hourly wages.
The company Horizon they also say that they are aggressively attracting new pilots to work, offering a bonus of $ 20 000 and increasing the starting salary from $ 30 to $ 40 per hour.

Pilots in Mesa Air Group, which had the lowest starting salary in the industry at $22 an hour, Cowen said earlier in July signed a new contract increasing pay to $36 an hour and providing $42 in bonuses.

The US military is also trying to keep their highly skilled military pilots. The air force is willing to pay up to $ 455 000 to keep its pilots.

Regional carriers compete not only with other US airlines to keep their pilots, but also with fast-growing Middle Eastern and Asian carriers. The latter offer huge bonuses for well-trained pilots. Chinese airlines offer a good salary of $ 300 thousand for qualified pilots.

But it is not only about salaries, industry experts say.
After the disaster Colgan Air In the 2009 year, in which 50 people died, new rules for pilot training were introduced. New pilots must have 1500 flight hours before they can obtain an air transport pilot license. Another 1250 watch pilots should accumulate after receiving their commercial certification.

Critics argue that this rule is a huge obstacle for new pilots who will seek to start work on regional airlines.

Republican Senator John Tune recently introduced an amendment to the rule in 1500 hours. Pilots now only need 750 hours if they were in the army, 1000 hours if they graduated from a four-year college, and 1250 hours if they finished a two-year college.

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