c-wood75
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FEATURE: Regionals scrambling to hire pilots
Passenger growth hit 8.2 percent at the Atlanta-based regional airline in the first nine months of last year and its competing against its sister Skywest Airline, where emplanements grew 13 percent during the same period. Together the two airlines carried one of every five passengers who traveled on a regional airline in the United States during the period.
“The key problem is that from September 2001 through September 2005, the number of pilots starting to learn how to fly in the workplace was down 10 percent,” said Robertson. “From 2005 to 2006, it’s down 26 percent. There is just not as many people wanting to get into industry because of all the negative press.”
Additionally, the military is training fewer pilots and retaining more of them with better pay, noted Gary Morrison, program director for CAPT LLC, which operates the Commercial Airline Pilot Training Program in Palm Coast, Fla.
Regional airlines are responding to the tighter labor market by reducing minimum flight hour requirements and recruiting students at leading flight schools more aggressively.
“It runs in a cycles,” he said of pilot hiring. “What’s going to happen now that the major airlines have costs under control and oil prices are dropping, is that you will see major’s profits rise and then orders for new aircraft. From that there will be massive hiring of pilots, which will create a shortage.”
The turn around is already being felt at flying schools, which are finding it harder to hang on to flight instructors.
“There is a need for more students than we can fill right now,” said James Krzeminski, director of admissions for Airline Transport Professionals (ATP), a flight training school headquartered at Jacksonville Beach, Fla. At a job fair ATP held Jan. 8-9, Trans States Airlines, ASA and Pinnacle Airlines hired 23 out of 25 pilot applicants.
Last year, ATP sent students to the airlines to conduct interviews. Now airlines are sending recruiters to the school and offering students jobs before they’ve graduated.
Graduates of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., are routinely receiving offers from three regional airlines, said Frank Ayers, chairman of the flight department.
ERAU sold a portion of its flight school operations to CAPT LLC last August so it could focus on its academic programs. Since then, 96 percent of CAPT’s graduates have been hired by airlines, said Morrison. Eighty percent of its students have already been offered jobs.
“That’s pretty unheard of,” said Morrison.
“To my knowledge, they have never been this low,” Robertson said of the minimums.
Regional airlines are playing a key role in lowering costs for major airlines. As major carriers like United Airlines, Delta Airlines, US Airways and Northwest Airlines reorganized in bankruptcy, they secured concessions from pilots. Limits on the size aircraft lower-paying regional airlines could fly were lifted from 55- or 70-passenger to 100-passenger. That cleared majors to shift much of their domestic traffic to newer, more fuel-efficient Embraer and Bombardier jets being operated by regional airlines.
In the first nine months of 2006, emplanements at regional airlines climbed 6.4 percent, despite the loss of Independence Air. Load factors hit a record 75 percent, according to the Regional Airline Association.
Today, it’s possible for someone with zero flight time to enroll in an immersion flight-training program and emerge 14 months later with a job flying for a regional airline.
”I don’t know how it could get much better than that,” said Krzeminski.
FLTops.com’s database shows that on average a student pays $73,490 to attend flight school, including room and board. Students attending some aviation universities will spend twice that amount. (FLTops.com is surveying aviation colleges who offer professional pilot degrees to determine the latest costs.)
While salaries for first-year pilots are in the low teens, they rise quickly with each year of experience. When a pilot moves into the captain’s seat, their compensation can rise 30 to 50 percent. Compensation rises dramatically as they become certified to operate larger aircraft for mainline carriers.
“Six years from now, the majors are going to be hiring the captains from the regional airlines as first officers,” said Krzeminski.
The only obstacles Robertson sees slowing demand are a merger of major airlines, some cataclysmic event similar to 9/11 or the extension of airline’s mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65.
“We predict that the pilot overage is quickly becoming a shortage,” said Robertson. “It will quickly worsen as Northwest, Delta and United kick in hiring this year.”
Charlie Lunan
1/26/2007
At Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Dan Robertson can’t hire pilots fast enough. 1/26/2007
Passenger growth hit 8.2 percent at the Atlanta-based regional airline in the first nine months of last year and its competing against its sister Skywest Airline, where emplanements grew 13 percent during the same period. Together the two airlines carried one of every five passengers who traveled on a regional airline in the United States during the period.
“The key problem is that from September 2001 through September 2005, the number of pilots starting to learn how to fly in the workplace was down 10 percent,” said Robertson. “From 2005 to 2006, it’s down 26 percent. There is just not as many people wanting to get into industry because of all the negative press.”
Additionally, the military is training fewer pilots and retaining more of them with better pay, noted Gary Morrison, program director for CAPT LLC, which operates the Commercial Airline Pilot Training Program in Palm Coast, Fla.
Regional airlines are responding to the tighter labor market by reducing minimum flight hour requirements and recruiting students at leading flight schools more aggressively.
The cycle turns
For Robertson, who has been in the industry more than 30 years, it’s a sign of yet another industry turnaround. And he thinks this rebound has wings. “It runs in a cycles,” he said of pilot hiring. “What’s going to happen now that the major airlines have costs under control and oil prices are dropping, is that you will see major’s profits rise and then orders for new aircraft. From that there will be massive hiring of pilots, which will create a shortage.”
The turn around is already being felt at flying schools, which are finding it harder to hang on to flight instructors.
“There is a need for more students than we can fill right now,” said James Krzeminski, director of admissions for Airline Transport Professionals (ATP), a flight training school headquartered at Jacksonville Beach, Fla. At a job fair ATP held Jan. 8-9, Trans States Airlines, ASA and Pinnacle Airlines hired 23 out of 25 pilot applicants.
Last year, ATP sent students to the airlines to conduct interviews. Now airlines are sending recruiters to the school and offering students jobs before they’ve graduated.
Graduates of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., are routinely receiving offers from three regional airlines, said Frank Ayers, chairman of the flight department.
ERAU sold a portion of its flight school operations to CAPT LLC last August so it could focus on its academic programs. Since then, 96 percent of CAPT’s graduates have been hired by airlines, said Morrison. Eighty percent of its students have already been offered jobs.
“That’s pretty unheard of,” said Morrison.
Falling flight hour requirements
To compete for pilots, ASA has lowered its minimum flight hour requirements twice in the last six months. It has gone from 1,200 hours, including 200 hours flying multi-engine aircraft, to 800 and 50 hours respectively. The airline will lower the minimum total time to 500 hours for students who have had advanced jet training in Level 5 or 6 Fixed Training Devices or Level C full-flight simulators “To my knowledge, they have never been this low,” Robertson said of the minimums.
Regional airlines are playing a key role in lowering costs for major airlines. As major carriers like United Airlines, Delta Airlines, US Airways and Northwest Airlines reorganized in bankruptcy, they secured concessions from pilots. Limits on the size aircraft lower-paying regional airlines could fly were lifted from 55- or 70-passenger to 100-passenger. That cleared majors to shift much of their domestic traffic to newer, more fuel-efficient Embraer and Bombardier jets being operated by regional airlines.
In the first nine months of 2006, emplanements at regional airlines climbed 6.4 percent, despite the loss of Independence Air. Load factors hit a record 75 percent, according to the Regional Airline Association.
Today, it’s possible for someone with zero flight time to enroll in an immersion flight-training program and emerge 14 months later with a job flying for a regional airline.
”I don’t know how it could get much better than that,” said Krzeminski.
FLTops.com’s database shows that on average a student pays $73,490 to attend flight school, including room and board. Students attending some aviation universities will spend twice that amount. (FLTops.com is surveying aviation colleges who offer professional pilot degrees to determine the latest costs.)
Getting ready for the majors
Being hired by a regional airline is often the critical first step in a career as a major airline pilot. Regional airlines have extensive ground school and flight training programs. As a result, they are prime recruiting territory for major airlines. While salaries for first-year pilots are in the low teens, they rise quickly with each year of experience. When a pilot moves into the captain’s seat, their compensation can rise 30 to 50 percent. Compensation rises dramatically as they become certified to operate larger aircraft for mainline carriers.
“Six years from now, the majors are going to be hiring the captains from the regional airlines as first officers,” said Krzeminski.
The only obstacles Robertson sees slowing demand are a merger of major airlines, some cataclysmic event similar to 9/11 or the extension of airline’s mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65.
“We predict that the pilot overage is quickly becoming a shortage,” said Robertson. “It will quickly worsen as Northwest, Delta and United kick in hiring this year.”
