Don't know about the H1B bit...but tea drinkers in coffeeland?
There have been some changes in the Visa rules lately...increased fees and such that might affect that concept.
Air Log is 42-50 pilots short each day I hear.
PHI is probably in about the same shape.
ERA is paying double time for workover to get guys to work (I hear anyway....)
If the big three with their pay and benefits are having those kinds of problems....they should be willing to explore avenues to address the problem.
However, that being said....do not hold your breath.
One of the outifits is still having a significant problem with turnover amongst the younger and newer pilots....as EMS jobs open up near their homes....off they go like a teenage girls knickers when she drops some Ecstasy at a party.
The 7/7 roster the company insists upon is the major problem....whereas a simple change to the 14/14 as ERA operates on, would go a long ways towards solving that problem. Commuting costs have gone way up with the increase in petrol prices and the pilots are paying the costs. The change to a 14/14 roster would cut commuting costs in half with no cost to the company....but that change is a dead issue. ( As I hear it anyway....)
Hit the telephone and start calling all the operators....maybe one of them will find a way to start importing some foreign help. Afterall...they can only say "No!".....until one of them says "Yes!", then you are in the offshore flying game.
