Pilot shortage, coming soon to an airline near you.

[pgcfii2002]

Somehow I see this turning into a PFT argument.......

 

[Way2Broke]

Xjohn, The union auto companies are getting there butts kicked by the non-union auto companies. This is primarily due to the cost advantage the non-union companies have over the union auto makers. What you call an effective union has lead to the elimination of 100,000's of UAW jobs. UAW menership peaked at over 800,000 in 1979, today it is around 400,000.

I couldn't agree more, but you can't blame it all on the union. Globalzation is part of the reason that UAW has shrunk in numbers. Just like when you call to get customer support you get someone in India following prompts on a computer screen. Business dictates going to where labor is cheap. It's capitalism, plain and simple.

 

[Smarta$$]

Xjohn, The union auto companies are getting there butts kicked by the non-union auto companies. This is primarily due to the cost advantage the non-union companies have over the union auto makers. What you call an effective union has lead to the elimination of 100,000's of UAW jobs. UAW menership peaked at over 800,000 in 1979, today it is around 400,000.

So we should all just agree to make 40% less, so that we can have job security. No thanks. The goal should not be to bring our pay down to the level of the lowest competitor. It should be to bring the bottom feed wages up to a respectable level.

Do you think CEO's are taking pay cuts for any reason, much less to compete with companies that pay sh!t.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

Just went to the Pinnacle site (3.3.07)
Minimums:
HS Diploma
Class I Medical
Commercial
Multi
Inst

NO mention of any hour minimums whatsoever.

cliff
YIP

PS-I know a guy, over 60, who was called to interview at Pinnacle. The kicker? He didn't ever APPLY at Pinnacle.
Another guy here in flightinfo reported they called him at 10 PM. On a SATURDAY!
I also know 2 guys who were invited to interview at Eagle, and neither one of them applied, either.

 

[CopilotDoug]

So we should all just agree to make 40% less, so that we can have job security. No thanks. The goal should not be to bring our pay down to the level of the lowest competitor. It should be to bring the bottom feed wages up to a respectable level.

Do you think CEO's are taking pay cuts for any reason, much less to compete with companies that pay sh!t.

That's what sucks. By the inherent nature of aviation...you can't outsource a job to India to fly between Chicago and LA. And with the current rules in place, we don't have to worry about cabbotage. With this kind of business "isolationism" if you will, WHY THE F\/CK ARE WE AGREEING TO ALL THESE PAYCUTS PEOPLE?!? And don't hand me that BS about "if you raise ticket prices, all the flying will go to SWA and we won't have the current number of jobs." The mis-management teams need to be held accountable. The traffic delays and congestion that have been occuring lately are totally uncalled for. Completely sold out planes sitting on the ramp for 7 hrs with passengers on board but they can't get back because there's no gate. Complete and total mismanagement

 

[TurboAWD]

Xjohn, The union auto companies are getting there butts kicked by the non-union auto companies. This is primarily due to the cost advantage the non-union companies have over the union auto makers.

Hmm, that could be a large part of it, but the managers at the big three have made more than a few huge mistakes over the last three decades.

Piss poor product development for most of that time was only one of many huge problems.

Turbo

 

[pilotyip]

Turbo, these are Detroit's problems. Because contracted low productivity and benefits costs far in excess of the non-union automakers, Detroit had to build SUV's with high profit margins in order to be profitable. With 1500-1700 per car higher costs, they could not be profitable selling smaller cars. They did not develop other products because they could not make money with their existing structure. When SUV sales fell due to high fuel costs the whole deck of cards came falling down. Every week we hear of another 10K jobs being eliminated in Detroit.

 

[bigbird]

Supply and Demand. Pay will come up. This industry is no different than others. People get jobs to make money. Sure there are some SJS and people that love flying sooo much they will fly for nothing. The current pilot shortage is due to young people realizing how difficult it is to enter this field and how it takes forever to make a good wage. They go elsewhere.

 

[YourPilotFriend]

Supply and Demand. Pay will come up. This industry is no different than others. People get jobs to make money. Sure there are some SJS and people that love flying sooo much they will fly for nothing. The current pilot shortage is due to young people realizing how difficult it is to enter this field and how it takes forever to make a good wage. They go elsewhere.

Actually, it's because training has become prohibitively expensive. It is now around $150-$200 an hr for private lessons in most places. $50,000 for a puppy mill that can only supply so many every year as well.

 

[UnstableAviator]

RAH is also experiencing a pilot shortage. The company recently lowered mins to 1000/100 and are now offering a $500 referal bonus to current pilots for recommending new hires.



As much as I oppose it, GA user fees might play a big part in restoring pilot pay in the coming years. GA user fees will further limit the amount of flight training resulting in greater pilot shortages. I'm not sure where the airlines think they'll be getting pilots from, but I'm sure they aren't looking that far into the future.