American airlines face pilot shortage
By Alexandra Marks, The Christian Science Monitor
Published: August 05, 2007, 23:05
New York: The aviation industry is on the rebound financially, but a looming pilot shortage could create some unexpected turbulence.
For a view of what this could mean for passengers, one need only look to Northwest Airlines.
Since last Friday, the Minneapolis-based carrier has cancelled hundreds of flights because it hasn't had enough pilots in reserve to fly all of the planes it had scheduled and handle all of the overtime created by summer weather delays.
The result: Thousands of passengers like Maria Montoya, who spent seven hours getting from Detroit to New York, were delayed, rerouted and frustrated.
Aviation experts say Northwest's cancellations are unique, a product of the carrier's overzealous cost-cutting to lift itself out of bankruptcy, which it did this past May. But as the industry continues to recover, they warn, demand for new pilots could soon outstrip the supply. And unless airlines start aggressively recruiting and training new pilots now, such problems could affect the entire industry.
Key reasons for the potential shortfall: Flying has lost much of its glamour, and not enough young people want to become pilots. Smaller and regional carriers are already having trouble hiring new pilots and have lowered their standards, requiring fewer hours of flying experience.
Since 2002, four major airlines have gone bank-rupt and thousands of pilots have been furloughed. Many of those who remained saw their wages cut by as much as 40 and 50 per cent.
Many also lost their pensions and had to give up hard-won work conditions. For an 18-year-old looking for a career, the blue uniform with its gold captain's stripes may not have seemed as appealing as before. That's reflected in pilot licence data: The number of student pilot licences that the Federal Aviation Administration issues has declined from a peak of 98,000 in 1998 to 85,000 in 2006.
The number of commercial pilot licences issued has dropped from 124,000 in 1999 to 117,000 in 2006.
At the same time, major carriers like Northwest started relying more on smaller regional carriers to feed their network systems. Traditionally, those regional carriers were where new pilots paid their dues, working for about $25,000 or less per year for several years before going to the more lucrative airlines, where senior pilots could eventually make $200,000 or more. But as major carriers cut back on pilots' benefits at the top, they also created more low-paying jobs at the bottom. That's where the pilot shortage is being felt most.