Is the U.S. airline pilot shortage real?

There has been an ongoing conversation about a pilot shortage in the United States for quite some time. But is this shortage real?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issues ATPs, Airline Transport Pilot certificates, the highest level of certification a pilot can receive. The certification is for pilots, what a Ph.D. is for scientists. In 2021, the FAA only issued 4,928 ATPs, less than half the estimated number of pilots that the industry plans to hire this year.

“The pilot shortage for the industry is real, and most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there simply aren’t enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years.” – Scott Kirby, CEO, United Airlines

United recently became the first major United States airline to reach an agreement on a new contract with its pilots’ labor union, the Air Line Pilots Association, International. United CEO Scott Kirby posted on LinkedIn,

“United Airlines was the only airline to work with our pilots union to reach an agreement during COVID. It’s not surprising that we are now the first airline to get an Agreement in Principle for an industry leading new pilot contract.”

Airlines are having difficulty keeping aircraft in service because of the shortage of pilots, with many announcing reductions to summer schedules to keep their pilots from being overworked. Recently, Alaska, JetBlue, American, and Southwest announced cutbacks in their summer schedules.

Alaska reduced its summer flying by 12% and JetBlue by 10%. Having reported pilot training backlogs, American and Southwest announced a reduction in capacity of six and five percent, respectively.

“Pilots were stuck in the school house. So we’re de-risking the operation a little bit to give our pilots schoolhouse just a little bit of breathing room as we train them.” – Ben Minicucci, CEO, Alaska Airlines

Is the pilot shortage the root of airlines’ issues?
The ALPA has denied a shortage of pilots in the United States. The union claims that operational issues and schedule cuts result from mismanagement on the airlines’ part, canceling flights to improve financial results.

ALPA president, Captain Joseph DePete, wrote a letter earlier this month asking other airlines to ‘stop the spread of misinformation. He states that the federal relief packages provided to airlines, amounting to $63 billion, were to ensure that airlines were prepared to meet an increase in air travel demand when it arose.

“With the $63 billion in relief that U.S. airlines received, U.S. taxpayers gave your members an advantage that no other business sector received during the pandemic and responded to the sacrifice and advocacy of airline workers. As you well know, we worked together during the worst of the pandemic to ensure the aviation industry would survive and be positioned to meet the critical air transportation needs of our nation. ALPA is prepared to collaborate with anyone who comes to the table, in good faith, and work together to help our industry navigate this challenging period. However, we will not allow airline CEOs who seek to exploit this current moment to divert attention away from their mismanagement of the pandemic relief, while lobbying to weaken critical lifesaving pilot qualification and training requirements.”- Captain Joseph DePete

Although the ALPA recently agreed on a new contract for United Airlines pilots, Captain DePete makes his point very clear and adds,

“I can assure you that ALPA will give no ground—and we will call out every instance of false rhetoric about pilot supply for what it is: an attempt to distract and deceive the flying public and members of Congress about the airlines’ mismanagement of the government bailout provided to ensure our industry would not only survive the pandemic but be ready to thrive once the recovery we are seeing today took hold.”

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many pilots took early retirement packages, further accelerating the need for new pilots to be trained and hired by airlines. There have been many captains leaving regional airlines to go to mainline carriers, which no doubt puts a strain on regional carriers’ operations. There are more stringent requirements for captains, who need 2,500 flight hours to reach the status of captain, whereas first officers only need 1,500 flight hours to become first officers.

Southwest Boeing 737 MAX8 landing at LAS
The ALPA strongly believes that there is no airline pilot shortage in the United States.
Pilots can leave airlines with two-week notices, while it takes airlines about six months to certify a new captain. The process of certifying first officers takes just about four months. In addition to pilots leaving, a limited number of flight instructors or simulators can also cause quite an issue.

Republic Airways has recently sought practical solutions to the growing pilot shortage problem and requested that the Department of Transportation (DOT) reduce the minimum number of flight hours required for its pilots. The airline asked that the reduction be 50% for its pilots trained in-house. The regional carrier has a flight school and claims its training requirements are on par with military-based training.

There has been a recent surge of foreign pilots applying for United States visas. Ana Barbara Schaffert, an attorney at AG Immigration Group, stated that the supply and demand for pilots in the United States are rapidly growing apart, creating opportunities for highly experienced foreign pilots.

“While the US has a major shortage, in the rest of the world pilots are out of jobs.” – Ana Barbara Schaffert, attorney, AG Immigration Group

United Boeing 737-900 landing at LAS
United Airlines is the only major US airline to own a flight school, the United Aviate
According to a recent Reuters report, Schaffert has received more than 8,000 consultation requests and has over 2,000 resumes to sort through from foreign pilots seeking employment in the United States. This number is nearly double what she was receiving pre-pandemic. Breeze Airways, SkyWest Airlines, and CommutAir have all been actively recruiting pilots from Australia. Australian pilots can obtain special occupations visas in the United States, and Australian certifications are recognized in the US.

Is hiring foreign pilots an acceptable alternative? Do you believe there is an actual pilot shortage in the United States, or are airlines truly mismanaging resources as the ALPA claims? simpleflying.com