There's Still Some Hiring Going On!

The folks at AIR, Inc., tell ANN that airlines hired 697 pilots in October, bringing the year-to-date total to 7,170. The Major carriers had the highest hiring volume in October hiring 265 pilots, followed by the Nationals with 203, and the Non-Jet Operators finished in third hiring 95 pilots for the month.  The furloughed numbers decreased from 8,178 in September to 7,718 in October - there are currently 102,085 active airline pilots in the U.S.

The Air Line Pilots Association's board of directors elected Captain John Prater, a B-767 Continental mainline pilot, to serve as the 8th president in the union's history. Prater will replace current president Capt. Duane E. Woerth on January 1, 2007.

DHL, an international air express courier, has signed a letter of intent to acquire a 49-percent stake in Polar Air Cargo for $150 million. The proposed transaction includes a 20-year commercial arrangement that will ensure DHL access to aircraft capacity in certain markets while providing parent company Atlas Worldwide Holdings with a long-term customer base and potential revenue in excess of $3.5 billion over the life of the agreement.

American Airlines (AMR) will begin recalling 10 pilots a month starting in January 2007. AMR currently has 2,832 pilots on furlough. Northwest Airlines (NWA) currently has 648 pilots on furlough and will continue the recall process they started in September by recalling 43 pilots in November, 57 in December, and 150 during the first half of 2007.

U.S. airlines are forecasting a three-percent increase in passengers traveling worldwide during the Thanksgiving holiday between the 17th and 29th of November. The Air Transport Association says 25 million passengers, or approximately two million a day, will fly during the nine-day period.

FMI: www.jet-jobs.com