China Airlines News: According to the official website of the US CNBC, the United States is facing the worst pilot shortage in recent years, which has forced American airlines to cut flights. The entire industry is trying its best to find solutions.
"employment shortage" for military and civilian flights
United Airlines CEO said: "The problem of pilot shortage in airlines is real, and most airlines simply cannot realize their capacity plans. The main reason is the lack of enough pilots." Due to the lack of pilots, the regional airlines that United cooperated with currently have about 150 aircraft that are forced to ground. What is even more worrying is that according to the American Regional Aviation Association, about one-third of active pilots in the United States are between 51 and 59 years old, which means these pilots will retire within five years. In response, it is reported that some US lawmakers have considered passing legislation to raise the retirement age of airline pilots from 65 to at least 67 years old to alleviate the problem of pilots’ “employment shortage”.
CEO of Mesa Airlines said: "Data shows that as long as we don't open a flight, we will lose money." Because of flight cuts, Mesa Airlines Group lost nearly $43 million last quarter. The problem of pilot shortage also affects the U.S. Air Force. A U.S. government investigation report shows that the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have pilot gaps, with the largest gap in the Air Force. Since 2012, the full-time air force rate has been declining year by year, and is currently only 73%. In July 2020, David Goldfein, then chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, said that the U.S. Air Force needed 25,000 pilots, but now there are 2,000 missing. The US military has been in an embarrassing situation where there are aircraft but not enough pilots.
Reasons for "employment shortage"
Two years ago, the new crown epidemic swept the world. In order to reduce labor costs, most American airlines not only stopped recruiting new pilots, but also issued plans to retire early for thousands of in-service pilots and other employees. Now, as the US epidemic control gradually relaxes, the United States ushers in a wave of "retaliatory" travel. Faced with increasing flight demand, American airlines have to recruit and train pilots in large quantities in order to avoid flight cuts. In 2022 alone, major U.S. airlines will try to recruit more than 12,000 pilots, more than double the previous year's recruitment records. Several American airlines, including Frontier, have even tried to recruit pilots from Australia to alleviate the shortage.
However, some U.S. airline executives said the pilot shortage could take years to resolve. Because one of the obstacles that affects the increase in pilot numbers is the cost of training. On the one hand, the training period is long, and it takes an ordinary pilot at least 18 months to accumulate enough flight time. It takes several years to train a qualified wide-body pilot; on the other hand, the training cost is high, and it costs about $92,000 to get an initial flight license at the largest
ATP flight school in the United States.
similar problems are more prominent in the field of military flight. According to US media reports, it takes about 5 years to train a qualified fighter pilot, which costs at least $150 million. For the United States, which has weak economic growth in recent years, it is already powerless to spend huge amounts of money and long cycles of training pilots.
"Employment Shortage" How to solve
In the United States, new pilots are required to have 1,500 hours of flight time before they can take up their posts. The 1500-hour flight rule stems from a fatal crash near Buffalo in 2009. The rule usually requires pilots to have 1,500 hours of flight time before working on American Airlines. Recently, an executive of a U.S. airline company suggested relaxing flight time regulations for new pilots. But the proposal was opposed by the families of the victims of the 2009 Colgen Airline Flight 3407 crash, and the Federal Aviation Administration also expressed doubts.
At present, some U.S. airlines are considering rescheduling pilot training programs to lower entry barriers. This year, Delta Air Lines canceled the original four-year degree recruitment requirement when recruiting pilots.
In addition, United Airlines has also begun to expand the selection of pilots.Last December, United Airlines' Arizona-based flight school United Aviation Academy began training its first students, with the goal of training 5,000 pilots by 2030, and half of those 5,000 pilots will be women or other people of color. It is understood that the training fee for each student is about $17,000, and United Airlines will bear these costs until the trainee obtains a flight license. Other airline operators are also trying low-interest loans and other methods, hoping to reduce the financial burden on students and cultivate more pilots.
In the US military, the problem of pilot shortage is tried to solve the problem of "re-hire". The US Military Times website once reported that due to various factors, the US Air Force has a large number of experienced pilots retired and devoted themselves to high-paid civil aviation companies every year. In order to prevent the continued loss of pilots, the U.S. Air Force has taken measures to retain pilots such as increasing flight allowances, increasing salary, shortening service hours and providing conditions for pilots who wish to receive education during their service.
In any case, it is not easy to alleviate the pilot's "employment shortage", just as pilot compensation consultant Kit Darby said: "There is no quick solution."
