Is Kit Darby's Pilot Shortage Really Here?

Trip7

Trip7

Well-Known Member
With the way things are going on it looks like the pilot shortage problem is here and will only get worse. Here at my university there is an instructor shortage due to every instructor with a pulse being picked up. Will the 135 operators survive now that it is not needed as a stepping stone to a regional? Expansion in the Middle East, India, and China is booming. I see a major pay increase for pilots soon due to this shortage. You can't operate an airline with no pilots.:)
 
It's only a 'shortage' when pay and benefits skyrocket and operators cannot find pilots to fill the jobs.

It's only a quasi "shortage" because they're not getting the flow of applicants willing to do the work for the passenger industries pay and benefit packages they're offering.

When the airlines decide to kick down some significant duckets to increase pay and benefits, voila, no shortage of people willing, able and qualified to perform the work.
 
Doug Taylor said:
It's only a 'shortage' when pay and benefits skyrocket and operators cannot find pilots to fill the jobs.

It's only a quasi "shortage" because they're not getting the flow of applicants willing to do the work for the passenger industries pay and benefit packages they're offering.

When the airlines decide to kick down some significant duckets to increase pay and benefits, voila, no shortage of people willing, able and qualified to perform the work.
Click to expand...

Exactly, shortage is when you see airlines taking out ads in the local newspapers offering 5-10 thousand sign on bonuses for qualified pilots.

Ok maybe I went a little bit too far.
 
Doug Taylor said:
It's only a 'shortage' when pay and benefits skyrocket and operators cannot find pilots to fill the jobs.

It's only a quasi "shortage" because they're not getting the flow of applicants willing to do the work for the passenger industries pay and benefit packages they're offering.

When the airlines decide to kick down some significant duckets to increase pay and benefits, voila, no shortage of people willing, able and qualified to perform the work.
Click to expand...

Well said.....I wish mechanics would have enough balls to stop taking crap wages from the industry. From what I've seen over the last 20 years is Unions taking the dues but providing no justification for their existence.

Dug
 
Aero_Engineer said:
Exactly, shortage is when you see airlines taking out ads in the local newspapers offering 5-10 thousand sign on bonuses for qualified pilots.

Ok maybe I went a little bit too far.
Click to expand...

This is what I believe it will come down to. Even if they raised pay right now back to pre-9-11 levels we would still have a shortage. They predicted this global shortage before 9-11. Airlines will start poaching pilots like a sports team in free agency, offering big signing bonuses and better bennies. Im calling it, I forecast a major pay increase for pilots worldwide within the next couple years.
 
The only shortage I see is of qualified applicants at the regional level, and that doesn't really qualify as a shortage. The minimums to fly an RJ or a turboprop these days are insanely low. It's not safe in my opinion but I digress. Until you see legacy carriers having trouble filling classes there is no pilot shortage. But then again only two of them are hiring these days. What we need to see is for the legacy carriers to start reclaiming the regional flying that they gave up over the past few years. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be happening....yet. When and if it does, there will no longer be a shortage of pilots at either the regionals or the legacies because regional capacity will shrink to more normal levels creating more competition at the bottom like there once was.

Don't believe the flight school ads. Your path to the right seat of a legacy carrier hasn't gotten any shorter but your path to respectable wages has gotten A LOT longer.
 
When the Majors/Legacies/("real airlines":D ) don't have a stack of resumes of qualified candidates, and need to resort to, heaven forbid, upping pay and reinstating pensions (hey, we can all dream), then there's a pilot shortage. Until then, having to recruit people into the regionals, whether it be the higher rung regionals, or not, does not count as a shortage!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top