There is not and probably never will be shortage of pilots. The article, and I quote:
"This is going to come to a crisis," said Bob Reding, recently retired executive vice president of operations at AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and now a consultant to FlightSafety International Inc., an aviation training provider.
Added Kit Darby, a consultant on pilot-hiring trends: "We are about four years from a solution, but we are only about six months away from a problem."
Bob Reding has to have what you might describe as a vested interest. And Kit Darby appears to suggest that the US will be short in six months. But he has to be wrong. If the US is anything like the rest of the world there is an enormous glut of unemployed pilots. And even if there was local supply problem, that would be fixed in an instant by allowing short term visas for foreign pilots.
How will we know who's right? Well, if the starting pay for First Officer in a US regional airline rises to more $50K, it will show there is a shortage! Because this is the salary that will have to be paid to attract new entrants and qualified pilots from other operators. And we'll also see non-US nationals flying on short term contracts (at significantly higher rates). And obviously, well managed regional airlines will be making arrangements with FTOs to guarantee a continuous supply of F/Os. But they are not. And come June next year, every airline will still be fully crewed, F/O's will still be screwed and there'll be no aliens! Though we'll still see articles (from training organisations) saying there's a shortage coming... in six months!