Nibraska, pilots have been loosing their jobs in the states for 50 years. We use to say, the requirement for a pilot, of a major airline, to upgrade to Captain is that you were furloughed at least once and divorced at least twice.
Come on guys, this is nothing new! In 1969 (yes I was flying then and I know many of you were not even a gleam in your Daddy’s eye) a sign on I-5 outside Seattle said: “Would the last person leaving Seattle please turn out the lights.” Seattle (Boeing) were nearly out of business. Not only were the company engineers loosing jobs, the airlines were furloughing (laying off) like crazy. Then the first oil crunch in 1973 and the bigger one in 1978 saw thousands of pilots walking the streets (some forever.) The largest set back was under the Reagan administration when good old Ronnie boy fired all the Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO.) Not only did every airline in the nation lay off pilots but major airlines shut their doors forever. Braniff, old Continental, Western, National and eventually Pan Am. Sure some of the pilots got into other carriers and even parts of carriers were picked up by still others (United and Pan Am’s Pacific routes, while Delta bought Pan Am’s Europe operation) but large number of pilots never flew again – ask those airbus pilots at Pan Am
Please remember 900 pilots at UAL or 1000 at AMR or 2000 at Delta (while 10-15% of their pilot force) are not the final number. Recall AMR negotiated for nearly 2 years on its pilot contract and much of this is a negotiating ploy. Of course there is hardship for the carriers, but I have seen it before. A large percentage of these “jobs” will go through voluntary leave of absences and early retirements. The final number will be far less and while that is of little consequence to the guy out on the street; non-Americans must understand the USA is a complete seniority system. There are no direct entry Captains at major airlines and furloughs go from the bottom up. In the vast majority of cases that means the guy with the most flying left in his career is the guy out on the street.
Also it is highly unlikely that many of the pilots there will come to the ME. All the while the ME, India and Asia need pilots by the tens of thousands. So fear not about that highly trained F/O at American Airlines. He will probably use his engineering or computer science degree to get a job writing software for a few years until he is recalled.
Burners and Out!