The
Pilot Shortage in the United States is a heavily debated issue. This debate not only takes place between key players
in the aviation industry but also between analysts outside of the aviation
industry. While most analysts may argue that this most recent boom in hiring
can be attributed to many different factors there are some who still believe
that this increase in hiring is just the industry’s way to return to a normal
stable work force. Over the past decade or so the travel and aviation industry
has struggled and has laid off thousands of pilots and employees. One of these events was the September 11,
2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. These attacks
increased Americans fear of Flying and reduced the customers for the airlines causing
them to cut flights and jobs for thousands of pilots.
With all the obstacles that the airline industry has
overcome in the past decade there are more huddles that have developed. The
Federal Aviation Administration has recent rewritten the regulations regarding
commercial pilots. These regulation put greater restriction on how long a pilot
can fly for and how many hours they can be on duty. This reduction in the pilot’s
allowable working hours requires the airline to hire more pilots to cover the
scheduled flights they have in place. The Federal Aviation Administration has
also raised the requirement for the number of hours a pilot must obtain to be
able to obtain an ATP. This has increased the training time a pilot must go
through by almost three fold. Not only does this delay the hiring of those
piloting into the commercial airline but in also increase the cost of training
of those pilots. With the reduction of wages that the pilots took to keep jobs
during this slump the return on investment is just not there to entice young
adults into a career in the aviation industry. Lastly the average age of airline
pilots is soaring this is a problem since there is a mandatory retiring age of
65 years old for airline pilots. This tied with the reduced pool of pilots in
training adds up to a severe pilot shortage.
After 9/11 the major air carriers were grounded this coupled
with the nation’s increased fear of flying due to the possibility of more
attacks created a major economic impact. Gabi Loagan stated that the total
initial economic impact was a “6 percent reduction in passenger volume across
the board, with a 9 percent reduction in the nation's busiest airports,
totaling a nearly $1 billion loss for the airline industry” in her article in
USA today. (Logan) She goes on to say “As a result of the massive financial losses
due to lack of passenger demand, canceled flights and increased expenditures
for security, even airlines that did not have prior financial issues were
forced to renegotiate labor contracts and lay off high numbers of employees,
such as the 7,000 employees laid off by American Airlines.” (Logan) Most
opponents of the pilot shortage debate will simply say that the increase of
hiring that we are seeing now is just the aviation industry finally rebounding.
They also say that these pilots that were initially laid off are still out
there and are the one being rehired today. This is simply not the case “a
record 738 million airline passengers flew in 2005, up 10 percent from the
previous record set in 2000. The first seven months of this year have seen 324
million passengers, off only 1.5 percent from the year-ago pace, and miles
flown is actually up a bit.”(Isidore, 2006) As you can see the attacks on
September 11 devastated the airline industry causing a massive lose in revenue
and a large percentage of the workforce laid off but the aviation industry
bounced back and returned to pre 9/11 status in a matter of a few years.
The recession is another factor that caused the airlines
to lose revenue over the past few years. Tim Winship reported in a 2010 article that “As
a group, five of the nine largest U.S. airlines posted 2009 losses totaling
almost $4 billion. American, which lost $1.5 billion in 2009 and $2.1 billion
the year before.” (Winship, 2010) Although most will again say that we are
still rebounding from this recession it is simple not the case. Martin wrote that in 2013 “The profits come
on $199.7 billion in operating revenues for the nation's top 26 airlines,
compared with $156 billion for 2012, according to the federal Bureau of
Transportation Statistic”.( Martin,2014) Also the major airline did not lay off
a large sum or pilots like they did during the downturn after the 9/11 attacks.
Most of the cut pilot positions were simple from retired pilots. These profit
margin numbers are also greater than the pre 2001 numbers so we can see the
airline industry is actually growing.
There are a few facts that the opposition cannot dispute.
The airlines in the United States are hiring and are hiring at a faster rate
than ever before. “American has said it
expects to need to hire 1,500 new pilots over the next five years to make up
for retirements, training demands and its fleet renewal” states Carey and Nicas
in a recent article examining the shortage. (2014) As we know this hiring can
be attributed one of the major factors we are seeing today is retirements.
During the last decade the airlines have not been acquiring new pilots. Since
this was the case there have not been large numbers seeking training due to the
lack of jobs. This has reduced the number of pilots to take the place of those
pilots reaching the mandatory retirement age. To compound this problem the FAA
just increased the mandatory minimum of flight hours required to be a pilot in
command of a scheduled airline to 1,500 hours from the previous no required
minimum. This new regulation has just increased the training time for a pilot
by three fold in order for them to take the place of the retiring pilots that
are in the air right now. So with the mass of retiring pilots and the increased
training time which will delay the current pilots in training from taking those
seats it is hard to say that we will not see a pilot shortage. Its also easy to
see why Justin Bachman of Bloomberg reported that “One of the largest
regionals, Republic Airways Holdings (RJET), plans to stop flying 27 of its 41
Embraer (ERJ) 50-seat jets because of the pilot shortage”(2014).
Finally one of the main reason there is a pilot shortage
is the low wages for entry level positions in the airline industry. Most
starting pilots make on average $21,000.00 a year. This is not a lot when you considered the
high cost of training. Matthew C. Klein a writer for Bloomberg explains “
Although many commercial airline pilots get their experience and training in
the military, those who don’t have to pay as much as $100,000 to get the
required education and flying time -- an investment that can't be justified
when the wages for new workers are so low” (2014). One thing is for sure that I will graduation
Eastern Michigan University with a total educational debt of over $120,000.00
which does not include the cost of living for the 4 years of school and flight
training. After my graduation I will have three choices available to me become
a flight instructor and earn 15 dollars an hour while gaining my last 650 hours required to get a
first officer job at a regional airline. That doesn’t seem like a bad choice
but when you figure I will start out making $21,000.00 a year as a first
officer and it will take 4-10 year or so to break the $75,000.00 mark it is not
a very enticing choice. My other option is to fly for a cargo company which I
would make $30,000.00 or so then take a pay cut to work at a regional airline
or stay at a cargo carrier and top out at the $60,0000.00 range for my salary.
Or lastly take a job at a corporate jet company and start out with a salary of
$75,000 to $100,000 and end up with a final salary in the middle to upper six
figure range. The final option is the best and most viable option since my
educational debt will need to be paid sooner rather than later. These options
only increase the pilot shortage even more with more and more new pilots
staying away from the airlines to seek higher paying job elsewhere.
No matter how you look at the situation there is only one
clear answer. We are currently experiencing a pilot shortage that will only get
worse in the next few years. With the cost of training increasing along with
the required hours to be able to fly airliners more and more young adults are
either seeking careers outside of the aviation industry or at least outside of
the airlines. This coupled with the increasing amount of retiring pilots and
the lack of qualified pilots due to years of the industry not hiring has all
added up to a major pilot shortage here in the United States.
Additional questions
The RAA Regional
Airline Association (RAA) and Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) act as the
unions for the Regional airline industry. Although ALPA focuses its efforts on
pilots RAA represent the rest of the industry.
1.
Professionalism striving to be at the to
of your profession in and out of the work place. It not only includes your
skills but also how you act and how to interact with others in and out of the workplace.
2.
The Captain repeatedly failed check
rides. By not studying the pilot failed to hone his skills. There was also a
lack of professionalism on management’s side by not sufficiently preparing or
requiring their pilots to be proficient in their skill. Management should have
seen that there was something amiss when someone repeatedly fails examinations
but they continued to overlook it and let him represent the company.
3.
See above essay
4.
There are many ways I can expand my
professionalism. First by attending conferences and seminars so that I may further
my knowledge of the aviation industry. Secondly I will always keep my skills
sharp not only in the aircraft I fly everyday but by continuing to get
additional rates and training that are not required by my job.
References
Bachman, J. (2014, February 11). Pilot
Shortage: Regional Airlines Are Cutting Flights - Businessweek.
Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-11/yes-theres-a-pilot-shortage-salaries-start-at-21-000
Carey, S., & Nicas, J. (2014,
February 3). Airline-Pilot Shortage Arrives Ahead of Schedule - WSJ.
Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304851104579361320202756500
Isidore, C. (2006, September 8). Airlines
would have changed, with or without 9/11 attacks - Sep. 8, 2006.
Retrieved August 10, 2014, from
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/08/news/companies/airlines_sept11/index.htm
Kline, M. (2014, February 12). Pilot
Shortage Is an Airline Fairy Tale - Bloomberg View.
Retrieved July 13, 2014, from
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-02-12/pilot-shortage-is-an-airline-fairy-tale
Logan, G. (n.d.). The Effects of 9/11
on the Airline Industry | USA Today. Retrieved August 10, 2014,
from http://traveltips.usatoday.com/effects-911-airline-industry-63890.html
Martin, H. (2014, May 5). Airline
profits soar to $12.7 billion - LA Times. Retrieved August 10,
2014, from http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mo-airline-profits-skyrocket-20140505-story.html
Winship, T. (2010, April 30). The
Recession Hit the Airlines Hard, and Passengers Harder: Travelers Suffer from
Profitability Drive - ABC News. Retrieved August 10, 2014, from
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/recession-hit-airlines-hardand-passengers-harder-travelers-suffer/story?id=10497972
