radarlove
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2005
- Posts
- 677
This is a kind of old story, but it cracked me up. Old Kit is at it again, talking about how retirements are going to drive up major airline hiring. I remember when he was going on about TWA retirements and how that was going to boost hiring for a long time, uh huh, right...
Searching for a career was wearing on college student Emily Nankivell until she discovered becoming an airline pilot was within reach.
She plans to attend a new flight school opening Monday at Sinclair Community College in Dayton to be operated with Delta Air Lines. More flight schools are opening or expanding and pilot recruiting has increased because of the growth of regional airlines and looming retirements of Vietnam-era pilots.
"The idea of being a pilot came up, but it seemed too impractical," said Nankivell, 20, of suburban Kettering. "When I found out that Delta was going in with Sinclair, that really affirmed my decision. This is a major airline. I could probably get a job with them."
The Dayton school will be the fourth college-affiliated program operated by Delta Connection Academy, the airline's pilot-training subsidiary.
Pan Am International Flight Academy in Orlando, Fla., doubled its number of flight schools last year by acquiring two more - in Livermore, Calif., and Beaver Falls, Pa.
"We're very much aware of the hiring needs of the regionals. That's whom we're targeting with our graduates," Vice President Bob Crook said. "We're constantly expanding our fleet of aircraft, and we're hiring instructors continuously."
Other airlines and pilot-training companies have added classrooms and more flight simulators.
Delta's Dayton flight school graduates are guaranteed job interviews with the airline's regional affiliates, Delta Connection and American Eagle, which have hired 1,000 pilots this year, said Susan Burrell, president of the Delta academy.
"The regional jet industry continues to expand at a very fast pace, creating an enormous pilot void for the airlines to fill," Burrell said.
The number of jet aircraft used by regional commuter airlines jumped from 240 in 1998 to 1,321 in 2003, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. And the FAA forecasts that the number will continue to rise steadily, hitting 3,222 by 2015.
The sluggish economy has forced airlines to turn to smaller jets used by regional airlines that are easier to fill with passengers and less expensive to operate for shorter routes.
"You're trying to size the tool, the airplane, to the size of the market," said Kit Darby, president of Atlanta-based Air Inc., a career information service for airline pilots. "RJs are saving the bacon right now. They've just popped up like mushrooms."
Many of the approximately 9,400 airline pilots laid off as a result of cutbacks after the 2001 terrorist attacks and competition from low-cost airlines don't want to transfer to regional airlines, Darby said.
Regional pilots work longer hours and may make only about one-third of the pay for pilots of major airlines.
But there is no shortage of candidates because younger pilots see regional operations as a way to gain experience.
Darby estimates there will be openings for 10,000 pilots this year, well above the long-term average. Many of those openings will be because a large number of pilots are approaching retirement age, he said.
About 1,300 of the 59,000 pilots for major U.S. airlines are expected to retire this year, Darby said. That number will continue to increase annually, reaching about 2,300 in 2007, he said.
Many of those approaching retirement are military pilots who served in the Vietnam War, said Severin Borenstein, professor of business economics at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley.
"The airlines recognize that they are going to see substantial retirements and need to prepare for that," he said.
The flight school at the University of North Dakota is among the largest of the 190-plus aviation programs at colleges. Fall 2003 enrollment was 1,776, up from about 1,000 students six years ago.
"For our graduates, there has been a significant amount of hiring activity," aviation department chairman Kent Lovelace said. "In the last eight months, it's really taken off."l
Searching for a career was wearing on college student Emily Nankivell until she discovered becoming an airline pilot was within reach.
She plans to attend a new flight school opening Monday at Sinclair Community College in Dayton to be operated with Delta Air Lines. More flight schools are opening or expanding and pilot recruiting has increased because of the growth of regional airlines and looming retirements of Vietnam-era pilots.
"The idea of being a pilot came up, but it seemed too impractical," said Nankivell, 20, of suburban Kettering. "When I found out that Delta was going in with Sinclair, that really affirmed my decision. This is a major airline. I could probably get a job with them."
The Dayton school will be the fourth college-affiliated program operated by Delta Connection Academy, the airline's pilot-training subsidiary.
Pan Am International Flight Academy in Orlando, Fla., doubled its number of flight schools last year by acquiring two more - in Livermore, Calif., and Beaver Falls, Pa.
"We're very much aware of the hiring needs of the regionals. That's whom we're targeting with our graduates," Vice President Bob Crook said. "We're constantly expanding our fleet of aircraft, and we're hiring instructors continuously."
Other airlines and pilot-training companies have added classrooms and more flight simulators.
Delta's Dayton flight school graduates are guaranteed job interviews with the airline's regional affiliates, Delta Connection and American Eagle, which have hired 1,000 pilots this year, said Susan Burrell, president of the Delta academy.
"The regional jet industry continues to expand at a very fast pace, creating an enormous pilot void for the airlines to fill," Burrell said.
The number of jet aircraft used by regional commuter airlines jumped from 240 in 1998 to 1,321 in 2003, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. And the FAA forecasts that the number will continue to rise steadily, hitting 3,222 by 2015.
The sluggish economy has forced airlines to turn to smaller jets used by regional airlines that are easier to fill with passengers and less expensive to operate for shorter routes.
"You're trying to size the tool, the airplane, to the size of the market," said Kit Darby, president of Atlanta-based Air Inc., a career information service for airline pilots. "RJs are saving the bacon right now. They've just popped up like mushrooms."
Many of the approximately 9,400 airline pilots laid off as a result of cutbacks after the 2001 terrorist attacks and competition from low-cost airlines don't want to transfer to regional airlines, Darby said.
Regional pilots work longer hours and may make only about one-third of the pay for pilots of major airlines.
But there is no shortage of candidates because younger pilots see regional operations as a way to gain experience.
Darby estimates there will be openings for 10,000 pilots this year, well above the long-term average. Many of those openings will be because a large number of pilots are approaching retirement age, he said.
About 1,300 of the 59,000 pilots for major U.S. airlines are expected to retire this year, Darby said. That number will continue to increase annually, reaching about 2,300 in 2007, he said.
Many of those approaching retirement are military pilots who served in the Vietnam War, said Severin Borenstein, professor of business economics at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley.
"The airlines recognize that they are going to see substantial retirements and need to prepare for that," he said.
The flight school at the University of North Dakota is among the largest of the 190-plus aviation programs at colleges. Fall 2003 enrollment was 1,776, up from about 1,000 students six years ago.
"For our graduates, there has been a significant amount of hiring activity," aviation department chairman Kent Lovelace said. "In the last eight months, it's really taken off."l
