Possibilites of a pilot shortage

middies10

Well-Known Member
I feel that most on this forum are split down the middle on whether or not they believe that a pilot shortage will exist in the coming years. How about a weigh-in? Vote and explain.
 
I think a big hiring wave will occur somewhere around 2013 as a result of age 65 and the lack of incoming students the past couple years. Shortage? That's probably a strong word for it, but I think the big hiring wave will likely be focused on the regionals. I don't think the majors will have problems filling seats. Just a half-witted guess, of course.
 
Like Dasleban said, I don't think shortage is the correct word. There will be more of a demand for pilots, than in previous years.
 
I dunno, I'll believe a pilot shortage when I actually see it. People have been predicting one for years, and yet nothing.... We'll see I guess.
 
IMHO, a true "pilot shortage" is when the majors can't get enough pilots to fly their published scheduale. I doubt that will EVER happen.

However, I do believe that over the next 5 years the demand for pilots will increase signifcantly, and the bottom feeder operations that treat and pay their pilots like crap will suffer a small scale "pilot shortage".
 
There will absolutely be a shortage of qualified pilots who want to go to the regional airlines when the ATP rule kicks in. They are having trouble finding qualified pilots right now, and mins are already down to 500 TT in some situations. However, I doubt there will ever be a shortage of pilots going to majors...
 
Sure, demand may increase, however pay will continue to suck and people will always take jobs for 20k a year.
 
IMHO, a true "pilot shortage" is when the majors can't get enough pilots to fly their published scheduale. I doubt that will EVER happen.

However, I do believe that over the next 5 years the demand for pilots will increase signifcantly, and the bottom feeder operations that treat and pay their pilots like crap will suffer a small scale "pilot shortage".

Spoken as if it is the airlines' fault that pilots agree to work for "crap pay." So what do you call it when the small jet providers (the term "regional" has little application in today's airline industry)can't get enough pilots to fly their schedule?
 
Spoken as if it is the airlines' fault that pilots agree to work for "crap pay." So what do you call it when the small jet providers (the term "regional" has little application in today's airline industry)can't get enough pilots to fly their schedule?

Leverage.
 
There is potential for possibly some hiring at some point in the future. I can't believe how this can be called a shortage. So instead of there being 20 qualified applicants for 1 job there may be 10 for every 1 job. Sub 30k jobs dont count as they are plentiful everywhere in the US.
 
United may ground 44 aircraft as oil prices rise
United Continental may ground its fleet of Boeing 737-500 and 767-200ER aircraft in an attempt to offset rising oil prices, CEO Jeff Smisek said Friday. The company has 34 of the narrow-body planes and 10 of the wide-bodies, with an average age of 15 and 9.8 years, respectively. Regarding high oil prices, Smisek said, "I feel a bit like a pinata at a 10-year-old's birthday party." Grounding fuel-inefficient aircraft would be a step in fighting oil costs for United Continental, which announced March 7 that capacity will remain flat for 2011; earlier plans had called for a 1% to 2% capacity increase. Bloomberg (3/12), The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) (3/14), The Dallas Morning News (free content) (3/11)

Oh!
 
Sure, demand may increase, however pay will continue to suck and people will always take jobs for 20k a year.

And herein lies the problem. Flying, by its very nature, is considered a "cool" job by a lot of people. I mean, who cares if I qualify for food stamps as long as I get to fly this super shiny JETTTTT around the sky!

There are always going to be more warm bodies than there are seats to place them in. It's just the nature of the beast unfortunately......
 
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