stewartvwyk,
Hard to say where this will lead. The term pilot shortage gets kicked around a lot but with a rather unrefined definition so it's hard to say what's actually being discussed. The UAL CEO who was quoted as saying he didn't have enough pilots to fly the airplanes was addressing John Q. Public (where no nuanced definition is needed) and not the aviation community.
When I hear the term used, the first thing that pops into my mind is shortage of "what pilots ?". Being a cynic and skeptic, any time I hear shortage being alleged, I'll need to hear airline managements clearly state just what category of pilot they feel they're lacking.
While it's hard to say exactly what's happening at the regional level, it's plausible that the captain/LCA/sim instructor demographic is being tapped pretty hard by the legacies. If this supposition is correct, the shortage is of captains that it takes a minimum of 2 years to grow from scratch rather than F/Os who can be churned out in a couple of months. I can see where this would be a problem for the regionals.
I'd be very surprised to see the Big 6 career-destination carriers take in expats on visas. They just don't need to go that route. Green card holders ? Yep, all day long and twice on Sundays.
Last edited by bafanguy; 20th November 2021 at 21:39.