Articles tagged “pilot shortage”

American Airlines and its pilots union are at odds over what the union alleges are illegal changes to the carrier's training practices. The suit comes as airlines prepare for a busy summer travel season that many fear staffing shortages could disrupt.

U.S. airlines planned ambitious summer schedules to accommodate what they expect will be torrid travel demand. But airlines' hopes after two years of a pandemic are running into the reality of a tight labor market, with JetBlue and Alaska Airlines the latest to trim summer schedules due to staffing concerns.

In Skift's top stories this week, Microsoft increases its internal penalty for business travel carbon emissions, large numbers of Russians head to Dubai and Maldives, and U.S. airlines struggle to fill pilot shortages.

Good morning from Skift. It's Thursday, March 10, in New York City. Here's what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Airlines increasingly are feeling the effects of the U.S. pilot shortage. United Airlines is the latest to cancel routes and drop destinations because it can't find enough pilots to operate its flights. The problem could take a while to resolve, as it takes years to train a pilot to fly a commercial flight.

Mesa Airlines CEO Jonathan Ornstein sees a clear villain in the U.S. pilot shortage, and it's not low wages or the high cost of flight schools. Regulators' onerous training requirements created the shortage as he sees it, and more small cities are likely to lose air service as a result.

The U.S. pilot shortage may push airfares higher as travelers stream back into the skies this summer, warns Sun Country CEO Jude Bricker. But that's good news for airlines that are still reeling financially from the coronavirus pandemic.

There are probably enough qualified pilots in the United States for Breeze to hire. But some may want higher wages than Breeze wishes to pay. Why shouldn't the airline look abroad for labor? It is a perfectly legal program.

The pilot shortage United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby warned about is here. The airline is cancelling 14 routes to smaller cities from Washington, D.C. in the spring because it can't find enough pilots to operate those flights.

As the travel recovery looks to ramp up for summer travel, a pilot shortage isn't helping any. The time to invest in pilots is at the pilot training level by making it easier to get loans, financing, and scholarships.