Assignment:
Regional airlines that feed the nation's biggest carriers are boosting starting wages to light a pilot shortage, hoping to encourage aspiring aviators to endure what has become lengthier training.
Regional carriers are vital to the U.S. navel network, operating 44% of passenger flights in 2015 and providing the only flights to 65% of U.S. airports with scheduled service. They typically supply their own crews and planes. while big airlines set schedules. sell tickets and buy the fuel.
New wage scales introduced in recent months increase pay for some of their first-year aviators from around 520.000 to upward of 550.000 including bonuses, per-diem payments and training stipends.
"The marketplace for pilots is pretty tight right now.- said Capt. Tim Canoll, president of We largest pilot union. Air Line Pilots Association. "What we're seeing is the operation of supply and demand economics."
Pilots have king accepted what they call ..food-stamp wages- for a foothold in a passion-driven industry and a shot at six-figure salaries at major carriers later in their careers. Often loaded with debt, new pilots make do while they wait to ascend the pay scale, hoping to quickly upgrade to captain, a rank that confers higher wages, even at regional carriers.
congress put a kink in the supply chain in 2013 with a law mandating that most aspiring pilots fly 1,500 hour; before being hired by a
regional carrier, up from as few as 250 hours.That added years and tens of thousands of dollars to the investment pilots must make in training and working as flight instructors before moving up to fly commercial airliners.
'I he pilot rosters of major airlines are also being squeezed by a wave of retirements as aviators turn 65, spurring larger carriers to MOW aggressively recruit among regional partners.
the bottleneck will leave the U.S. with a deficit of nearly 14,500 pilots in the next decade, according to the University of North Dakota, home to a premier aviation program.
"I wouldn't say we can go out and hire as many pilots as we want." said Ryan Gomm, chief executive of Endeavor Air, a wholly owned regional unit of Delta Air Line. Inc. IAA year Endeavor raised its starting wage to SU' an hour front $25. It now offers a $20.000 annual retention reward, boosting it to $23.000 annually thereafter.
Some regional carriers were so short on pilots they weren't able to fulfill schedules set by their major airline clients, trading to litigation. One, Republic Airways holdings Inc., is reorganizing in bankruptcy. Carriers have pulled out of some marginal routes. cutting off access to smaller cities.
Expressjet Airlines, a unit of Sky West Inc.. in February raised its starting pilots' pay to as much as $40 an hour from a ceiling of 527. The company also raised the number of guaranteed monthly hours a pilot will be paid.