This is interesting. At a big recent aviation conference industry analysts are worried that abysmal pay rates will make it difficult to attract competent employees. Here is an excerpt...
This is already painfully obvious at the Small Jet Provider level. Pay and benefits are so low at some operators that one sometimes wonders if an orange jumpsuit was the employee's previous uniform. Service quality at some of these carriers has descended to the level that in some cases small communities are actually getting letters from companies stating they may not invest in new facilities in the region because of the quality of the air service. Not necessarily the level of air service - but the raw near-thuggery they witness or see passed off as "customer service" by some of these carriers. Point: airlines are becoming less of a career, and, at least in some cases at the SJP level, simply a stop on the burger-flipping circuit.
Here is the full article
http://www.aviationplanning.com/Forecast2006Highlights.htm
This is already painfully obvious at the Small Jet Provider level. Pay and benefits are so low at some operators that one sometimes wonders if an orange jumpsuit was the employee's previous uniform. Service quality at some of these carriers has descended to the level that in some cases small communities are actually getting letters from companies stating they may not invest in new facilities in the region because of the quality of the air service. Not necessarily the level of air service - but the raw near-thuggery they witness or see passed off as "customer service" by some of these carriers. Point: airlines are becoming less of a career, and, at least in some cases at the SJP level, simply a stop on the burger-flipping circuit.
Here is the full article
http://www.aviationplanning.com/Forecast2006Highlights.htm