Originally Posted by
rod_1986
I can’t understand why the US majors haven’t simply pressured the US Government to open up more visas for experienced pilots and the FAA to start cross-recognising other regulator’s licences. This (amazing and impressive) virtuous pay spiral will cost them billions of dollars in the long term.
Or is the lobbying power of ALPA (et al) so much stronger than we have with unions this side of the pond?
Genuine answers from our American colleagues welcome! In the meantime I’ll just look on in awe.
There is already a perfectly good law in place that says that US companies can't just pressure the government to open up more visas to foreigners, they have to prove that they can't hire enough domestically, which the regional airlines have successfully done. The major airlines don't have that problem, however. As to recognizing foreign licenses, are you saying that US pilots should be able to operate UK and EU aircraft based on their FAA licenses? Because until that happens there's no chance you're going to be able just walk in and get a US ATP certificate. Fortunately they are pretty easy to get anyway, at least a lot easier than a US pilot trying to get an EU license. The best strategy for US airlines is to lobby to extend the retirement age and lower experience requirements, but there isn't much political will to do either. The pay gap has it's roots in a lot of causes, the strong USD, the fact that contracts are typically only renegotiated every four years or so, but the main reason is that flying in the USA is very profitable right now so the airlines want to do more of it, and they need pilots. And they can afford to pay them more. Delta made profits north of 3 billion dollars in 2018, 4 billion in 2019, and more than 1 billion in 2022 while still recovering from the pandemic. All this while the US government pumped $25 billion into the industry that doesn't need to be repaid. Yes ALPA has some negotiating power, but all the power in the world pales in comparison to the basic laws of economics; right now there is unprecedented low supply and high demand for our services.