U.S. Airlines Desperate For Pilots Consider Cutting Training Requirements

U. S. airlines facing a pilot shortage are considering measures that would make it easier to get pilots trained faster, including halving the number of flight hours needed to become a pilot.

The pilot shortage has led to flight cancellations across the country and airlines cutting regional planes, Business Insider reported.

“The pilot shortage for the industry is real, and most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there simply aren’t enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in April during a quarterly earnings call, according to CNBC.

On May 13, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci posted a YouTube video where he apologized for flight cancellations, saying “we had 63 fewer pilots than what we planned for when we built our scheduled,” which he said led to a “ripple effect.”

“By the time we caught this error, April and May schedules were bid on by our pilots and flight attendants, making it impossible to sufficiently adjust schedules to avoid cancellations,” he said in the video.

In order to address the pilot shortage, some U. S. carriers have announced they would reduce the requirements needed to become a pilot in order to get more into the air, such as ending degree requirements, halving the number of flight hours needed, and increasing the pilot retirement age from 65 to 67 – a proposal Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), is considering introducing in the U.S. Senate.

Delta made the announcement in January, saying it would increase pilot pay and offer large sign-on bonuses while at the same time eliminating the requirement that pilots have a f... (Read more)

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