Articles tagged “pilots”

Desperate times call for desperate measures, including Norwegian's pledge to use only American and European pilots on its transatlantic routes. Is that what Open Skies is coming to?

It would be cynical indeed if Allegiant's pilots were raising safety concerns about the airline as a mere bargaining chip. Which it seems they are, since they're the ones flying the planes.

Delta is certainly feeling its oats these days with a windfall from the drop in fuel prices and its top-performing stock. No need right now to make any concessions on fares or to pay lip service to distribution through online travel agencies.

Call it a pilot shortage, attrition, a wage-rate problem, or a structural defect -- it all amounts to basically the same thing. Pilot recruitment is under stress, and will remain so until there are reforms.

Any system that lowers the boundaries to distribution and data sharing is good for consumers who are currently overwhelmed by the comparative tools available.

Airlines have no trouble getting passengers to use Wi-Fi -- when it's offered for free. The brand benefits would be enormous if JetBlue kept it that way. Other airlines should consider doing likewise.

Norwegian is getting everything into place for the beginning of its "shuttle" service into the U.S., and it's hard to imagine that the DOT would ban its entry outright despite objections from U.S. airlines and unions.

You say tomatoe and I say tomahto. Whether ALPA wants to admit there is a pilot shortage or merely cast it as a question of attractive pay scales, the end result is that there aren't enough qualified pilots to fill job openings at U.S. regional and major airlines.

If other airlines emulate the faster flow through for pilots from positions at American Eagle to American Airlines, then that would help the mainline airlines, and might exacerbate the pilot shortage among regional airlines.

Whether it is under duress or not, Norwegian Air is bringing some pilot and other crew member jobs to the U.S. How this impacts the airline's low-cost, long-haul model remains to be seen.