Furloughed Ranks Drop To 2,548

According to the folks at AIR, Inc., airline pilot hiring started out strong for 2008 with 122 airlines hiring 1,101 pilots in January.

National airlines lead in hiring with 559 new pilot positions. The Major airline sector came in second with 265 new jobs. The Non-Jet Operators followed in third, hiring 106 pilots for the month. The number of pilots currently furloughed continued to drop from 3,094 in December to 2,548 in January. AIR, Inc. estimates up to 10,500 new airline pilot jobs will be created in 2008.

Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have presented their respective pilots unions with tentative terms of a proposed merger agreement, and union officials are reviewing the information to determine how the deal would affect the two airlines' combined 11,000 union pilots, two sources familiar with the discussions said Monday.

In particular, leaders of the Airline Pilots Association chapters of Delta and Northwest are discussing how to establish seniority between the two pilot groups, the sources said. Seniority is a crucial issue for pilots because it helps determine pay, work schedules and the size of aircraft they fly, and it's not transferable if a pilot changes jobs to another carrier. Union officials also are discussing other issues, including securing a stake in the merged company and higher wages.

Continental Airlines said it would pay a record $158 million in profit sharing Thursday to employees based on the carrier's 2007 results. Houston-based Continental, the fourth-largest US airline, said last month that its pretax earnings for last year rose 53 percent, to $566 million, and revenue increased eight percent, to $14.23 billion.

Only a few major airlines reported a fourth quarter profit during the last four months in 2007. Alaska Airlines reported a profit of $7.4 million, Continental’s profits totaled $71 million and Southwest finished with $111 million. AirTran, American, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Northwest, United and US Airways all reported losses for the same period.

The next AIR, Inc. Job Fair will be held in Los Angeles, CA on March 29. Airlines already scheduled to attend include: Majors: AirTran; Nationals: AirNet, American Eagle, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Kalitta Air, Mesa, Mesaba, Pinnacle, Spirit Air; Jet Operators/Non-jet Operators: Kalitta Charters; Foreign: Cathay Pacific; Crew Leasing: CReW, Paramount; Fractionals/VLJs: Avantair; Others: Freight Dog.

FMI: www.jet-jobs.com