Airline Pilots See Step Towards 2 More Prime Earning Years Before Retirement

The US House of Representatives passed H.R. 3935, "The Security Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act", which will, among other things, bump the mandatory pilot retirement age from 65 to 67 years of age.

The idea of increasing retirement ages isn't anything new, particularly after the 65-year age limit replaced the earlier 63-year pilot max years ago. Reception is uneven, surprisingly enough. Some carrier execs look at projections of a mass retirement wave from aging Baby Boomers with dread, seeing an uncomfortably shallow pipeline of qualified replacements in the industry. It's notable, then, that the larger groups, like the Air Line Pilot Association, have pooh-poohed such an age increase under the auspices of safety, while those representing the smaller, cheaper carriers have applauded the extra time to get their ducks in a row.

The Regional Airline Association (RAA) published its statement on the passage of the bill, describing the somewhat tenuous position experienced by many of its constituent airlines throughout smaller markets in the USA.

“RAA thanks the House for passing today’s measure. The bill includes measures aimed at mitigating the growing pilot shortage and even more acute shortage of airline captains, which have driven a collapse in small community air service across the United States. Air service loss drives more travelers to our highways, where the traffic fatality rate is soaring. Air service loss makes it harder for communities to attract investment, generate employment, and provide mobility and vital services to their citizens.

The ALPA hasn't yet addressed the change, but made their sentiments clear last year when President Joe DePete said there was "no reason to change the retirement age today and doing so would only increase costs for airlines as well as introduce unnecessary risks to passengers and crew alike.” His org said that "Increasing the retirement age will have significant unintended consequences and will displace pilots," blaming the biggest issue on a mismatch between domestic and ICAO regulations. With international flights boasting a hard cap of 65 years for multi-crew pilots, "those airline pilots over 65 will be forced to leave the most desirable international routes to bid for domestic ones," which "will then displace more junior pilots." Overall, the ALPA said the increase would be counterproductive, requiring more training for both cohorts on different aircraft. "Furthermore," DePete added, "most regional airline pilots leave the regional industry long before age 65 for more lucrative jobs at mainline or low-cost carriers or other opportunities. Therefore, the pool of domestic-service pilots will not increase appreciably without additional training costs or disruptions."

The bill also expands some "pilot workforce development programs', but, as with so many other government systems, the immediate effects may take some time to be noticed. Goals include fostering diversity in future pilot generations and reducing financial barriers to aviation careers. Provisions related to flight simulators and flight time were stripped, negating any expected changes that would allow pilots to count sim time in greater proportion than current regulations. 

FMI:www.alpa.org, www.raa.org