I’m not sure that younger experienced pilots choosing to leave the industry is all that unrealistic. With 15 years in the sector and 12 at the controls the Pandemic led to me changing direction. Indeed I know of several close friends for whom the same is true. All good pilots, all with more than a decade of experience on various types with 6000+ hours in the logbooks.
Cracks in the boom were already appearing prior to Covid with as many operators hinting at redundancy as those that were recruiting, this had seemed to lead to, at best a stagnation of terms, and in some places a reduction.
My outfit (a fairly major operator) was laying off prior to Covid and the constant fear is extremely hard to live with for some people.
Those things combined led to making the job an easy one to walk away from for many like myself during the crisis we find ourselves in.
Ultimately that may bode well for freshly minted CPL holders as experienced competition moves on out of choice or necessity, but like so much at the moment it is all speculative. I wouldn’t be putting my 100k in the hands of an ATO in a hurry but then, I know what it buys you already.
Flying an aircraft is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done for a living. Good money, good time off, good colleagues to work with.
Simultaneously however, working for an airline is one of the most confounding and annoying things I have ever done. Sleepless nights, missed family events, loneliness on slip, generally poor quality of (and numerous amounts of) middle management, varying quality of senior management, frustrating strategic focus leaving the front line staff paying for the mistakes of the execs. It all adds up.
The industry I now find myself in has some similar issues, however it lacks some of the worst trends that have permeated aviation in my relatively short career.
I wish all luck but also caution against chasing a dream that may not exist anymore in the form you expect.
The next few years will be a talent acquisition manager’s dream. Even if there are jobs, there will be thousands of people chasing them, and the CFO’s will see opportunity in that.