How is the RAA (Regional Airline Association) dealing with the pilot shortage in US?
 

Hint, They are not going to raise wages and improve working conditions. Instead they are attacking pilot certification rules.

Read about it here: Take Flight Tomorrow | helping tomorrow's pilot takeoff

Here is the lobbying effort page.

Recommendations of the Pilot Supply Task Force | Take Flight Tomorrow

Instead of supply and demand they will just change the rules.


"If there is anything more important than my ego around here I want it caught and shot at once" ZB

A shortage of experienced pilots willing to work for McDonald & Walmart wages, you mean.

Yes that is what the Congressional Budge Office found in a recent published study.

Trap? Belief? They are just unbelievably stupid...It has everything to do with low entry level pay.
I spent a year in between jobs when the last recession hit. The only companies hiring pilots were some regional airlines. I exceeded their experience requirements literally tenfold in every category. There were thousands of other equally well qualified pilots in the unemployment lines. Did we take the regional airline jobs? Hell no. We could easily have been direct entry captains. I would have loved to fly anything and regional airline flying is certainly not "beneath me". But the simple fact was that the meager unemployment compensation was higher than regional airline pilot pay.

There are plenty of highly experienced pilots on the market, but regional airlines want the least qualified simply because they know they can "pay" them in flying experience rather than money. Now they want to exploit the new ATP regulation exactly for that purpose, probably in order to drive wages further down. I just wish they would be honest about it.

It's interesting how many newish pilots ie CPL not ATP, at one of the companies for whom I work here in the USA, have expressed the opinion - or hope - that the new FAA ATP rules will cause airlines to include the required training as part of their basic indoc training. That is, the airline will wear the cost of the new ATP training requirements, and not themselves.

My experience in Oz & UK for *any* regulatory or market increase in minimum required qualifications is exactly the opposite! New, more difficult or more complicated (read 'more expensive') requirements become just another 'tick in the box' prerequisite to obtain *at one's own expense* prior to applying for jobs at that level. I foresee the same happening in the US.

Who's going to lead the lemming-like rush to pay & pay & pay just to get a job paying starvation wages? Hopefully no one. But, unfortunately, the US job market is filled with those who will pay - thereby support - the forthcoming prequisites, current poor pay, domicile hopping as bases open & close, commute to a crashpad (possibly even a worse choice for lifestyle), hiring booms & furloughs etc - just to get a quick job on a jet or TP at a regional to expedite their next career step their 'permanentl' job at a major.

I don't see the majors getting into the basic training business. The regional airlines will have the burden of training and adapting the training profiles to ensure that new pilots meet the standard. I do not see them at that point yet.

The RAA lobbying statements say it all. "It's not about the money or safety." IT IS ABOUT THE MONEY! IF YOU PAY THEM THEY WILL COME.

Why is all this happening?

The major airlines built a Regional Airline model that is flawed. (Thank you Delta) These airlines cannot survive on their own. When they pay enough to be considered a career they will be shut down. (Comair). They don't stand up well on their own. (Independence Air). 50 Seat RJ's made sense with $20 a barrel oil but not at $100 a barrel.

The shortage is a creation of the industry. It is their Frankenstein and they want to fix it with lower experience levels.

One huge difference between the US and seemingly the rest of the world is that airlines typically pay for all type ratings and there is very little P2F. Not needing a type rating certainly makes it much more doable for a new guy, but it is still a lot of money to get very little pay.