Asks Senate to Help Create More Aviators to Prep for Looming Shortfall

As the media digests the December 15 Senate hearing on Airline operations and their $54 billion bolus of government money, some highlights have stood out to those wondering just where all of 2021's flight cancellations came from. 

The pandemic stimulus given to the airlines, part of their Payroll Support Program, was earmarked to maintain their flight crews without involuntary furloughs, firings, or severance while portions of the world economy were locked down. The lack of travel interest proved temporary, roaring back to life once the artificial pressure of closures and blockades lifted. During 2020, however, the picture may have looked bleak to an industry beset with worries of a return to the post 9/11 doldrums that saw so many low-seniority pilots go on to graze greener pastures. While demand was low, some airlines sought to stem the financial bleeding caused by their most expensive, experienced, and unionized pilots. Some flight crew were offered early retirement, time off, nearly any way to get some of carriers’ highest-earning pilots to cost just a little less on the payroll. Now, however, some execs wish they had kept those pilots on the roster, facing an even greater shortage of qualified aviators on the flight line than they did pre-pandemic. 

The news is bad for passengers, but sweet music to the ears of working or aspiring pilots nationwide. Different periods of industry history have faced a “looming pilot shortage”, but after years of warnings it has become white noise to some after hearing about it for so long. It now seems that the pandemic has kicked off the shortage early, however, with a truly impending exodus when many in the baby boomer generation reach mandatory retirement. 

In his testimony to the Senate, United CEO Scott Kirby said his airline has 100 aircraft grounded due to a shortage of pilots. "There has been a looming pilot shortage for the last decade in the United States, and going through COVID it became an actual pilot shortage, there's not enough pilots to fly them." He said it makes it difficult to serve smaller communities that they would like to, hoping for improved assistance in pilot development. "I'm a little less optimistic that that situation is going to reverse itself in the near term unless we do something to increase the supply of pilots," Kirby said.

United is one of a number of air carriers looking to move from a predominantly male, caucasian pilot base in future hiring. "We are seeking to train 5,000 pilots by the end of the decade, with the goal that half of the students will be women and people of color, all while maintaining our incredibly high training standards." 

Kirby noted the incredible costs of creating a pilot suited to airline work, estimated it to be in the range of $150,000. Unlike other high-cost professions, the framework to smoothly gain experience and entry level work is not nearly as abundant as other careers, leaving the majority of young, low-time pilots little option but to instruct while building time, or fight for one of the increasingly rare GA jobs accepting less experienced candidates. 

FMI: www.commerce.senate.gov