On another note. A little unscientific pilots/aircraft using the fleets and total pilots from APC.
1. swa=10.6
2. aai=11.8
3. aa=12.9 (this was a shocker)
4. lcc=13.5
5. cal=13.6
6. alk=13.8
7. nwa=14.5
8. jblu=14.9(another shocker)
9. ual&dal=16.3
Discuss.
Those numbers don't mean very much all by themselves.
Other factors to consider are
aircraft utilization in hours/day
revenue generation per trip, etc.
For example (hypothetical):
Airline owns 1 plane.
The plane flies 1 hour each day.
4 pilots are on payroll.
pilots/aircraft = 4
pilots/flight hour = 4
wow that's really a good number (sarcasm)
Same airline, still one plane.
Plane flies 20 hours every day
10 pilots are on payroll
pilots/aircraft = 10
pilots/flight hour = 5
Also to consider:
A cargo company with lot's of revenue per flight can have the plane sit idle most of the day, the profit margin/leg is very high.
A passenger operator with a low margin/leg will have to utilize the aircraft more to increase profits.
In this day and age crew cost isn't the big factor it once was.
By increasing pilot ranks the aircraft utilization rate can be pushed up thus generating more revenue.
Cheers
George