Largest Hiring Month Since 9/11

The folks at AIR Inc. tell ANN over 1,360 pilots received jobs within the airline industry in September -- making this the largest hiring month since 9/11. That number also brings the third quarter to an end with hiring numbers totaling 3,619, almost doubling the 1,918 reported from the third quarter in 2006.

The National carriers hired 729 pilots, the largest hiring month for that sector since 9/11. The Major airlines hired 295 pilots, followed by the Non-Jet operators with 106.

Out of 90,970 active airline pilots, 3,472 were still on furlough at the end of September -- a slight decrease from the 3,543 furloughed pilots in August. AIR, Inc. forecasts approximately 12,000 new airline pilot jobs for 2007.

US Airways placed a firm order for 92 Airbus' early October. The order, worth approximately $8 billion, includes 22 A-350 XWBs, 10 A-330-200s and 60 A-320s. The A-30s are due to be delivered in 2009 and 2010, the A-320s will arrive in 2012 and the A-350, due to enter service in 2013, will be delivered between 2014 and 2017.

According to the Airports Council International airport passenger traffic in July was up 6.4% to 259.8 million over last year, traffic rose 5.5% to 4.5 billion metric tons and international traffic rose 7.3% to 127.8 million passengers. By region, the Middle East growth rose by 21.6%, Africa increased to 15.5%, Latin America was up 8.8% and North America posted the least growth at 3%.

In other news affecting pilot hires, DHL and Lutfthansa Cargo applied to the German Cartel Office for approval to form joint venture that would operate 10 aircraft on long-haul services as an extension of their cooperation, which has been active since March 2004. DHL is currently one of ASTAR Air Cargo's largest customers.

As ANN reported, the Senate passed its fiscal year 2008 Transportation Appropriations bill in September, which included a bill to change the mandatory pilot retirement from age 60 to 65. The bill must be reconciled with the House version, which passed in July, and then signed by President Bush.

The next AIR, Inc. Job Fair will be held on November 17 at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel in Atlanta, GA. Attending airlines include AirTran, American Eagle, ASA, Kalitta Air, Mesa, Pinnacle, Republic, and SkyWest. Other carriers expected to attend include Colgan, CommutAir, Eos, Great Lakes, and Skybus, as well as foreign carrier Emirates and fractional operator Avantair

FMI: www.jet-jobs.com