Pilot lives....yes they matter
 

I've been in an extreme state of shock at how the COVID-19 pandemic has and is unfolding across the planet. Without question, aviation has been brought to it's knees and with it the lives of millions of dedicated, hardworking, humans that make connecting the globe their life and livelihoods. The pandemic has laid bare systemic issues in every corner of our world. Racism, income inequality, gender dynamics, geopolitical chaos and corruption have all been paraded out in full force by the media to suit whatever left or right narrative they are spinning.
I can't help but be amazed at the complete and utter lack of coverage and oversight on an industry that is on the brink and is choosing to crucify it's workforce as a way forward through the pandemic. I am specifically alluding to the plight of pilots and the completely untenable position they have been placed in though no fault of their own.

Terms and conditions for aviators have been on the ropes for years. A pilot shortage was just starting to become a serious threat to the industry. With few exceptions, the industry reacted by squeezing productivity to the utter limits and lowering hiring standards to barely acceptable levels. The pandemic has turned out to be a moment of serendipity for the accountants and HR executives globally as they previously grappled to attract talent and provide competitive compensation to a dwindling pool of qualified candidates. One can almost hear them rubbing their hands together with a certain level of glee now that COVID-19 has solved their number one problem. The business of sending out lay off notices and redundancy letters is surely unpleasant, but can't go on forever and once through this bleak period, airlines will have pilots exactly where they have always wanted them.....in a corner and forced to accept whatever they are willing to provide, because, let's face it, where else will they work with their specialized skill set? NO ONE IS HIRING...ANYWHERE

I've tried to compare how other industries might react to the same predicament. It's hard to find a direct comparison. Aviation is just so specific and so susceptible to global events and economics. I did manage to give a colleague a scenario though. Imagine a hospital finding itself in a dire financial position brought on by uncontrollable external forces. The hospital management must do something to save the 'sinking ship', so to speak. Doctors are expensive, really expensive. How about we let go all our most senior and seasoned doctors, the ones with the most experience and knowledge but also the highest salaries, in favour of retaining all the residents and then hiring loads of nurse practitioners to deliver bulk medicine to the masses. Surely we would save loads of money. Lots of people would be served adequately by this model. Some would die, certainly, because their cases were too complex for physicians without the years of experience to decipher and treat properly, but that's the price we are willing to pay to save the hospital. The only problem is how the public might feel about all of this? I wonder what they would really think about being exposed to only the most novice of the industry because the spreadsheet just couldn't be balanced with the alternative? Obviously you see where I am headed with this.

The travelling public has no idea of the crisis that is currently coming to a cockpit near them. Beyond dumping seasoned veterans out like trash, the pilots left standing are expected to take much reduced salaries but continue on as the professional they are, safely operating the aircraft as if nothing has happened. Mortgages still need to be paid, kids through school and university, food on the table but somehow the economics only apply to the corporate spreadsheet and not the individual. The pilot should continue on as the robot they wish them to be, unrelentingly productive but not susceptible to any mental health issues brought on by having a nuclear bomb go off in your industry and life. Always in fear for your job.

The news from airlines across the globe is appalling. Mass redundancies in the Middle East with no transparency and metric as to how the decisions are being made, and when it might be over. Contract pilots in Asia forced into leave without pay and offered no communication as to when the situation might possibly resolve or what the plan is moving forward. Legacy airlines floating salary reductions of 50%. It's all madness. I don't know what the solution could possibly be. I am a capitalist at heart. Right now, though, the laws of capitalism can hardly be blindingly adhered to in these unprecedented times. It is well past the time for airlines to start truly engaging their pilot workforce as a way though this catastrophe. The draconian measures being used to trim the workforce and save the industry need to stop. The brain drain from the sky is going to be beyond what any reasonable traveller would consider acceptable if they truly knew. Yes, pilot lives do matter and it is time the airlines and public understood that.

Seems a lot more than just pilot lives, BIND

The air transport industry has millions of folks that have been affected besides the folks up front in row 1, seat A

Besides direct jobs, you must factor in the supporting folks that provide gas, bring in the meals, sweep the floors in the terminal, and the beat goes on. It is the overall process that the "socialist" folks do not understand.

Without the amazing airline industry the world developed over the last 50 years, that nasty virus could not have infected millions across the globe in such a short time. So maybe some inspection of the industry to prevent a new pandemic is in order, huh?

I empathize with a few pilots that have no back-up jobs/plans/savings, heh heh, but that aspect of the airline woes today is down in the noise level as far as this old pilot is concerned.

To OP:

You may want to consider our cabin crew colleagues first. 5x as many in numbers, 1/5 of the salary before the crisis hit.

At least we had a chance to save a bit for the rainy day and are not replaceable in the future with off the street talents from a 4 weeks crash course.

(Cross-posted with gums)

It is out of the question that hundrets of thousands are affected in this industry, but frankly, the main difference is that most jobs did not require an up-front investment like the specialized pilot career does, and it takes many years until you eventually reach the break-even point.
A cabin crew who is one year into the business might not have had the chance to save a lot, but a young First Officer looks at 100k+ dept and no chance of employment in the flight deck for ages. Both can compete for poorly payed jobs in the supermarket now but the cabin crew doesnt need to pay back the loan. Soon the type ratings will expire and pilots need to cough up another 1500€ every year for that plus another 100€ for the medical - only if you can demonstrate proficiency without any training as the skills are still fading away quickly without being in a job anyway, otherwise it can be a lot more.
I am not talking about senior captains of major airlines on dinoaur contracts from the good old times who are close to their retirements anyway, but the average newcomer pilot is totally f...d.

Pilots lives matter, but no more so than anyone else caught up in this cataclysm. Times change and who is employed by what industry changes too. When I was born, only the super rich traveled by air, that changed in a generation to everyone on the planet moving around, with all the benefits and detriments. When I was born, men, in huge numbers, had well paid, secure, pensioned jobs in heavy industry and manufacturing, that changed in a generation so that only a rump of those jobs remain. It is possible that we are seeing the beginning of the decline of mass air travel, the omens do not look promising with anti industry feeling from so many quarters, underlined perfectly yesterday by Mr Sunak completely ignoring the industry's plight. My advice is to look for a personal exit strategy before you become like miners and the steel workers reminiscing about their glory days of the past.

A very valid and poignant observation.

I don't think we have yet begun to understand the socio-economic consequences of governmental response to the pandemic. In my view, the greatest damage created from so blindly following a junk science, is to public confidence and it is public confidence which is so desperately needed to get the economy generally, and air travel in particular back to something recognisably able to support the livelihoods of those engaged in it.

Macdo has read the writing on the wall and it could be that we may witness changes in the industry of seismic proportions. The industry will need to evolve accordingly if there are not going to be even more tears. Nevertheless, the situation is desperately sad.

The problem for airlines is that it is not 'just' Covid19. One needs to look at all the other global matters that were in process and continue. That list starts with - but is by no means limited to:_

• The USA levels of debt, as well as in many other countries
• Then look at places where property is seriously overvalued.
• Consider the USA having reached the end of it's period of global domination and the rise of China.
• The re-jigging of Europe.
• The continued pressue from Russia.
• The Middle East is not going to go quiet any time soon.
• The climate problem has not been solved yet.
• After the 2008 financial crash - nothing substantial changed, they just carried on as before.
• Boeing has the problem of it's life still to fix, the Max is going to be an 'albatross' round its neck for years to come.
• Airbus laying people off too.
• Rolls-Royce, GE and other engine manufacturers following down the line. Not to mention all the other companies that supply components for each commercial aircraft.
• The smaller comabines are not immune, Bombardier has debts too.

Think about the way in which all of these have been exacerbated by Covid19 and then ask the old question: Where is the money going to come from? Currently, everyone is printing money and there is a reason that the value of gold is rising! People waiting for things to go back to normal will be surprised. Those expecting the 'new normal' to be better than the old, may be surprised. One of the long awaited changes that has been shaped by Covid19 is Telecommunting and Office occupancy. From that follows meetings reached by air. I worked in Telecommunications for 27 years, I saw the changes starting 40 years ago. Yes, I agree that there is nothing that replaces a face to face meeting but a lot of those meetings ARE going to be replaced.

My pessimisim is not based on 2020. Some of us saw this pattern of problems 18 months ago, before Covid even began.

Paxboy,

very insightful, however the rise of China will be severely curtailed by this Covid crises. After all, if what you say comes to pass, nobody will have money to buy their products. Friends I know in financial circles believe that Real Estate, especially commercial real estate will be affected, but the financial foundation of the markets and banking is still very strong (in the US) He even mentioned a better quality of life for working folks who are embracing telecommuting as a new normal. Time will tell.

I doubt the large organization I work for will ever return to having people travel for business the way we did before.

Thread drifting....No one has a crystal ball and everyone is speculating about everything. No one knows how things will recover. The point of the thread is the way aviation is hell bent on decimating the piloting profession. No other industry treats it's employees with quite as much contempt. Everyone expects layoffs. No one expects all jobs to be saved in the context of COVID. When mass layoffs hit other industries there are all kinds of supports and concessions for retraining and considerations for the lives that are being upended. In an industry where people are literally trusting their lives to the people up front, it's startling to me that people are treated with such disregard. The industry was broken before, COVID put it into very sharp focus.

Bindair
Your's appears like a union rant but at a wrong time. Humanity is going through an existential crisis of global dimensions and it's either lives matter or they don't. Most Pilots are workers and worker's salaries have always depended on requirement and cost of their replacement. Presently it's survival not how meagerly and hope that it gets over. But then dynosaurs may also have thought so.

PPRuNE has evolved since the original person developed this site - given the different subsections I think it is very clear to most that PPRuNe is actually an aviation forum.

Current unpaid pilots (and there are currently many) would not technically be considered "professional".

There are very many captains of airlines that have taken paths that have not required any personal cash outlay to become pilots - employment bonds, cadet-ships and military.

We are all in this together, as a veteran sole occupation over my life LAME - hopes the industry revives and we all stand with each other (not apart like before) for good pay and conditions for ALL employees moving forward.

Biggest problem for Pilots seems to be that they've spent $100,000 to become a 'One Trick Pony'. Without an aircraft to fly they haven't much to offer. An Engineer can fix any sort of machine, CC can work in many areas of Hospitality, managers can run away and run any sort of company but Pilots...

If this lasts a long time then that decision to buy a new Porsche and a large house on a big salary might have been a bad idea. Living within your means on $100,000 per year becomes a problem when you're only able to get a lowly job.

Tighten your belt and diversify...fast? 12 months ago nobody would have foreseen 6 months without flying so how can we assume flying will ever generate enough jobs after this disease finally folds?

Scary, isn't it.

Bindair

Sorry to sound brutal but we're one of many employee groups in many industries seriously effected by this pandemic..yes we may have major responsibilities but that doesn't make us "special"..as blue up rightly points out maybe pay to train has given some the wrong impression but realistically paying large sums of money to get qualified doesn't make us special or worthy.

At a local level I know some some Unions/professional associations are attempting to provide support, reduce redundancies, but the realpolitik is that we're in the redundancy mix with many other people, it will be nasty and scary for some time, and I can't see any way around it. I certainly don't see many pilots getting extra special support from national governments..

From a UK POV maybe it has happened when a single industrial sector/employer has gone under, but this pandemic is on such a scale I can't imagine that happening now - Can you give us an example of what sort of scheme(s) you are thinking of, any examples from recent history?

The problem with a statement like this is there is a lot of wishful thinking going on. There's a very interesting article in the Financial Times today that describes how we are sitting on a house of cards (debt) and the way capitalism is organised and leveraged these days makes it very easy for the whole thing to collapse. I would say that the economic picture is indeed very grim and commentators like Martin Wolf echo sentiments like that.
The OP may think of himself as a capitalist but if you work for a wage you are a worker.
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https://www.ft.com/content/c732fded-...omments-anchor

PPRune = pilots.
Whilst I have every sympathy for anyone caught up in this, this forum SHOULD be about pilots.

In terms of one trick pony, yes, people spent years getting the qualifications and experience for what they felt would be a professional and long career.

With the sort of hours pilots do, I don’t know many who had the time and drive outside of the working day to set up “ Amazon “ or write “ Harry Potter “...

That’s not to say the skill set isn’t transferable , a lot of the qualities are, but the kind of industries where they may be used have never been crying out for unemployed pilots - thery are normally deluged with a applications.

I find it slightly embarrassing This is happening to me again, as all the jealousy I’ve faced since making it in this game, will make a few people jump for joy at its demise .

We are spending in my branch of aviation (ATC) currently a lot of energy and discussions on the definition of the "new normal" .Will it be 50 or 80 % of 2019 traffic levels and when . The conventional wisdom at the moment ( it changes every week ) is 70% by 2024.
To influence that percentage and year does not depend on us, our management or the politicians, It depends on the public will to re-travel which is turn will depend on an effective and side-effects free vaccine or a cure and an economic rebound..
In countries with no or difficult ground infrastructure (i.e where alternative to a 1h flight is 12-15h by road ), traffic will rise faster , and will probably remain . For the rest we have to wait and see. Remember is is not only pilots, it is the whole chain , without pax , no revenue, for an aircraft operator an airport , aircraft manufacturers , etc...the whole chain. We do not control our destiny . Asking your ( non aviation) neighbors and friends when they plan to travel again for pleasure or business is probably the best indicator right now.

As to (some) pilots being special because they invested 100 K$ to their education, again have a look in the real non aviation world.. This is unfortunately becoming the norm for many professions where students have to take loans to finance their studies, whether it is a law degree or an MBA.

"70% by 2024"..Gulp.

As you say a lot of this really all very much hinges on the general public. I'm certainly hearing of people who are planning on driving rather than flying from the UK to parts of Europe later this summer because they want to avoid aircraft/airports, and also because having a car on hand equips them with the means to " bailout" should there start to be hints of a local lockdown....

"Who would have thought six months ago . . . .?
Maybe in six months or a year you will be saying the same thing.

We are geriatrics on a low fixed income but we usually manage to travel a couple of times a year, sometimes three or four with discount fares and companion flights and we were sitting here yesterday wondering where would be available to travel a little later this year. I suspect there are a lot of people out there in similar situation.

I am well aware that it is the last ten percent in many industries that make the difference between profit and loss but I was surprised to read that 'up to twenty percent' of jobs had been lost in the worst hit areas. If you were reading the dire predictions in most news media you would have thought that it was more like eighty percent! Apparently eighty percent of the travelling public will still have money to travel when this is over.

The game changer will probably be a vaccine or a reliable treatment. If we were lucky enough to get both by, say, next Spring, then why would people not travel? As much as business is currently finding ways to communicate with less face to face I expect new markets to develop and take up the slack. They always do.

I suspect it will be structurally more difficult to restart flying than to close it down. The process of scheduling and servicing parked aircraft and the sheer complexity of the industry has to make it a drawn out process but I suspect there will be a lot of pent up demand when we are free to fly abroad again.

Well CC has not invested a huge amount in their training, they don't have our big loans to be paid, they don't have to keep themselves studying and with recency... I can continue but there are many reasons why CC doesn't have the same problem, they could work elsewhere the day after, we can't.

I am a retired aviation professional and (in my retirement) had been flying purely for leisure an average of 30-50 sectors per year. So far this year my total is zero. As much as I want to travel again I do not see myself boarding an aircraft for a good while yet. Only a proven efficient vaccine will give me peace of mind, and that is a long way off or may possibly never happen! It truly hurts me to see all who are involved in the industry suffering the economic consequences of this virus, but I just cannot take the risk. I'm sure that I speak for hundreds of thousands that think more or less along the same lines right now. So yes, full recovery of the industry will, painfully, take a long time.

PLM. Pilot Lives Matter.

Hello to everyone.
As a newbie fATPL holder, I always hear stories from our big brothers how the 9/11 era went worse. Nevertheless, I claim that this COVID era is already doubled 9/11 era surely. Because the aviation itself, flight schools and airlines are having an enhanced infrastructure and capacity.
Before this coronavirus, roughly I would say that there was unemployed 8000 new fATPL holders (Low hour commercial pilot with ATPL theory and IFR on multi rating) plus 1000 experienced pilots in all world (FAA+EASA+ICAO). now the final amount of all pilots who they are unemployed is about 24.000 according to my estimation which I collected all information from websites during these last 3 months. This number can be wrong but I would be so happy if someone could give a more accurate number.

Consequently, this is obvious that airline assessments will be the hardest in all time as it was never in before. Finding a job will be extremely hard for all of us who they are a newbie.
Even to find bread will be challenge for us. Finally, I can only say one thing: Pilot Lives Matter....

I'm not sure who these "big brothers" are but if they are claiming the 9/11 era was worse than what we are going through right now then I'd take no further advice from them because they are talking nonsense.

Yes there was a traffic hold/stop for several days, duration dependent on where you were, yes there was a downturn whilst confidence recovered, yes there were redundancies, but the situation really never looked anything like as dire medium/long term across the whole industry as what we are witnessing now.. Were the pilots you are hearing making these claims actually flying commercially at the time - in 2001?

..and yes, you are right, the next few years will be tough, tougher than post 9/11..

Good Luck

Meester proach

You seem rather self absorbed, as to others schadenfreude regarding your plight,can’t imagine why they might feel that way.......

That it changes every week demonstrates how useless an estimate it is. Sheer tea-leaves-reading nonsense.

The fact is no one knows where the world, or the industry will be by Christmas, let alone 2024.

Meester proach is totally right. I just laugh when I read all the nonsense about "finding a way out" or read posts on social media on how managers should hire pilots in their industries because we do have certain qualities, we pass our OPCs and medicals and so on... come on... nobody cares. The truth is You either have other qualifications and experience besides being a professional pilot or You will end up with a poorly paid lower class back up job. It's as simple as it is. Besides getting a masters in Your 40s without any work experience outside the flight deck might help a bit, but it's a time (and money) consuming commitment and most people with families and bills to be paid simply can't afford the deal.

Well you may be right but no need to denigrate professionals making forecast .Our sources come from Eurocontrol , IATA weekly updates ( Public , search for them ) Airbus , and a few independent airlines that still employ them , Like Lufthansa for instance.
It is a bit more than reading tea leaves.
The latest Eurocontrol comprehensive assessment dated 8 July is following their predicted curve , we are currently at 21% of 2019 levels, expected to be at 50% by September and may reach 75-80% in Febr 2021 then it is likely to say there for quite some time .. That is for European traffic , which is slightly lagging behind US domestic traffic ( currently at 36%, )
For world wide, traffic IATA is more pessimistic. Same for Airbus. Airlines expansion plans are shelved and they expect the 70% plateau to last until 2024. For info US international traffic is only at 10% currently .

As an aside , re the title of this thread : Pilots lives matter ...I find this a bit overdone to be honest , The Black community uses this slogan to denounce the murdering of young blacks in the US. There is quite a difference between losing you life and losing your job..

Self absorbed ? What a strange thing to say.
I imagine you are one of the haters.

That forecast may well go up in smoke if a second wave hits Europe this winter, which is quite likely.

Exactly this. The majority of pilots have no relevant and/or recent alternative qualifications and little in the way of transferable skills. The types of jobs open to pilots are unskilled, minimum wage jobs. It is fanciful to suggest that we'd be competitive even for entry level graduate positions.

It is impossible to overstate how horrendous the situation is for pilots with mortgages, childcare/ school fees, training loans etc. to pay. I don't to see how any pilot will ever be able to commit to buying a house or even to starting a family; there is simply too much risk. The future for those "lucky enough" to find another flying job looks likely to be temporary contracts on a fraction of the salaries previously offered. This career is dead.

ATC watcher; thaks for signposting where we can get some professional views on what the state of CAT is likely to be over the coming years. Of course, these forecasts are based on many assumptions of the future and so the figures could be better or worse, however, I reckon it's better than most pprune armchair analysts could do.

Unless I've misread the latest Eurocontrol report, it looks to me like Europe is currently at 35% of 2019 levels rather than the 21% you have quoted. Also, Feb 2021 is forecast to be at 75-85% of 2019 levels, and if the current trend line on that report continues it should be closer to the upper end.

I read these forums with great interest, and have refrained from commenting much, as I merely am SLF. Here's 2 cents

I come from a flying family, and have seriously considered a career as one of you guys, but was fortunate enough to have a sneak peak of what pilot life would offer I chose a career in engineering instead. You have my sympathy for what is happening to your industry, and I see many sensible comments on here that show a sense of urgency reflective of the situation the world is in.

However, I also see a persistent amount of denial, with wild predictions of holiday travel booming back up once the time is right.
​​​​That would be nice indeed, but what pays your package is not that once-a-year tourist. It is (was) the business clientele closer to the pointy end. I used to be one of them, but can assure me and my colleagues will not be flying much for the foreseeable future. The worst news is that we don't miss it for a minute.

The thing is we were forced to learn a few new tricks in the last months, and online productivity tools have taken a great leap, such that meetings that required face 2 face contact in the past, can now be done comfortably and productively on a remote basis. We love it, and I am sure I speak on behalf of many of my peers.

Something changed. Traffic is not coming back to the old levels.

Wake up, smell that coffee, and rejig your life to find a meaningful and fulfilling alternative source of income. If flying is part of that, great, but don't expect to make as great a living or if it as you may have been used to.

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I believe you're largely correct with respect to business travel. However, there are a few charter airlines that deal solely in the leisure market. And that will never be replaced by zoom. For those airlines, the once a year holidaymaker is exactly who pays their pilots wages

Not disagreeing. But the dip we will all be going through will turn those people into once-every-two-years holidaymakers. And that is a problem, especially when combined with a woke generation who are no longer interested in city tripping weekends or stag do's just an easyJet away.

The golden days are over.

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Bindair Dundat
As others have said, Flight Crew are highly specialised people - like Doctors - they cannot readily transfer to other lines of work. Normally they have to find something entirely different to do and, given that millions of others are currently having to do the same ... I do understand this. My nephew became a Senior Second Office with a national airline (not in the UK) and, aged about 40 when he was looking for further promotion - his otilith organ failed in one ear and he lost his medical. End of career. All he had wanted to do from the age of 12 - gone, overnight. His insurance paid out but that does not cover another 20 years of working life. They had to downsize their house and his wife went back to work.

Further, you say, "No other industry treats it's employees with quite as much contempt." Having spent 27 years in corporate life - I disagree! Myself and my friends and family have been subject to constructive dismissal, redundancy at zero minutes notice, being lied to by men and women in suits, being sidelined for promotion (ask women and people of colour about this) and, on one famous day: I was due to take a posting with the company overseas and it was widely known. I had been back and forth to NYC, the company had arranged an apartment for me and secured my USA work Visa. Three hours before my leaving party - I was told that the deal was off. Nothing else, just stay in the old job with everyone knowing you wanted to leave.

Chiefttp
I have tended to prepare for the worst and, to blow my own trumpet: I saw the 1989/91 recession and made plans to 'duck' but corporate business did otherwise - twice, the first being the NYC story above. So I lost a lot. I saw the DotCom bubble but was not invested in that market so that was OK. I saw the 2008 crash coming and was ready and able to withstand that, however, it was apparent the the financial system was not changed in any significant way - mainly because politicians do not like to send their friends in the City to jail! So I was ready and prepared for the next financial crash and saw it brewing in 2018 (as mentioned above) and started to prepare for it. I have been expecting the Pandemic for a long time, it was only a question of when. Unfortunately for the world, Covid 19 arrived just at the time that the market was ready to pop and people were thinking that things were going well.

nolimitholdem
Yes, I agree but look at history. Look at the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, 9/11 and consider how much more connected we are by jet engines and telecommunications. Everything that happend in the past will happen again but BIGGER and longer lasting. It will happen because we know that humans do not learn from the past. The last six months have already shown that the USA and UK (and others) have learnt nothing from the past or the present.

Many companies can plan a one year life cycle. Vehicle manufacturers have to plan for five years, the airline world (makers, finance and operators) have to work at 15 years or more. Since they have all got used to steady expansion since the arrival of the 747, they have had 50 years of steadily increasing money. Now they have had to stop overnight. No company can do that in a nice way. So I am saddened about the way the airlines are treating all their crew and staff - but it is was corporates do.

As I suggested in my earlier post, the key to resuming any sort of recovery is CONFIDENCE. And the key driver of that has to be national governments. So far, and certainly in the UK, the government has contributed little more than confusion.

There was a parallel situation after 9/11 when public confidence, or a lack thereof, was causing considerable hardship to the airlines. My wife and I, for no reason other than to demonstrate support for the industry, booked a return flight on Jet Blue from FLL to JFK. I'm not claiming any moral superiority here but if more people could manage something similar, others might be inspired to follow the example.

There aren't any hard and fast rules for a situation which has so far been totally unknown to modern humankind. What may be perfectly valid for one person or company or geographical region may be totally implausible elsewhere. Assuming that everything and everyone everywhere in the world will follow the same pattern is a wild oversimplification.

However, since we already have some observations over all sorts of localised crisis, this allows for some conclusions. Some processes which dramatically change the landscape happen on a local scale in different places all the time. Destinations that were once looming with travel have been isolated from most of the world and devastated in past years due to wars, annexation etc. At the same time, others have flourished (compare the Middle East from a couple of decades ago VS what you see now). So, your individual prospects depend not only upon your skills, personality and reputation, but also upon where you are situated and how willing to relocate you are if need be. Some places will recover faster than others, some will exceed 2019 traffic levels relatively soon while others might never do. Some companies will do better than others, some will not survive at all. The question is, where exactly will you fit within that puzzle. It might not be exactly where you have imagined yourself, but you will sooner or later make it work if you so desire.

Thinking is difficult isn’t it,that is why some choose to judge and the worst of all,judge based on their own standards .

Not mechanics, cabin crew, etc?🤔

All companys are the same, we had a boss call our group into a conference room and tell us, "We don't give a f... about you people", exact words, reason being the low turn over of employees with our particular skill set. Can't blame him for his honesty, but wasn't something we didn't already know, it's something instilled in the MBA curriculum.