U.S. Regional-Pilot Shortage Called Severe: GAO Report Cites Low Pay as a Factor, Echoing Union Complaints

The Wall Street Journal
By Andy Pasztor
Updated Feb. 28, 2014 12:50 p.m. ET

U.S. regional airlines face deeper and more widespread pilot shortages than many industry leaders have acknowledged, according to congressional investigators.
 
Their findings give credence to labor-union claims that the problem stems more from low wages than a lack of qualified pilots, according to a report released on Friday by the Government Accountability Office.

According to the study, 11 of 12 regional carriers that were contacted “reported difficulties filling entry-level first-officer vacancies.” A handful of those airlines last year typically managed to meet only half of their hiring targets to start training such new co-pilots, the study found.

At one carrier, the number of applicants responding to a hiring announcement dropped to about 100 from more than 1,000 in previous years, managers said.

“A large pool of qualified pilots exists” to meet projected demand by regional carriers over roughly the next decade, but they may not be “willing or available to work at wages being offered,” the report note.

Starting pilot salaries at 14 U.S. regional carriers average $22,400 a year, according to the largest U.S. pilots union.

While the study doesn’t make any specific recommendations, large parts of it generally support arguments by labor leaders and others who see boosting salaries and benefits at regional operators as the primary solution to ensuring an adequate supply of future commercial aviators.

GAO investigators found that mainline carriers, since they generally attract experienced regional pilots, currently don’t have difficulties filling their cockpits. But the report emphasizes that in the long run, larger airlines confront some of the same societal and economic trends that threaten to reduce interest in the flying profession and curtail the overall number of applicants.

Some 70 regional carriers now fly roughly half of all airline trips in the U.S., carrying about one-fifth of total passengers.

The GAO said that based on available data for more than a dozen of those companies, the hourly wage for new hires averages about $24, and then jumps to about $30 an hour in the second year of employment. Other sources, however, show some smaller carriers paying as little as $15,000 a year, or about what a full-time worker would earn annually at the $7.25-an-hour federal minimum wage.

By contrast, at mainline carriers that fly the biggest jets on international routes, “some senior captains can make more than $200,000 or more annually in base salary,” according to the GAO.

On Thursday, the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents nearly 50,000 pilots across North America, put out a statement blaming airline management. “There is a shortage of pay and benefits for pilots in the regional” sector, “not a shortage of pilots who are capable and certified to fly the airlines’ equipment,” according to Lee Moak, the union’s president.

ALPA said that salaries for test engineers in other industries, as well as second lieutenants in the Air Force, start above $52,000 a year.

A GAO spokesman wasn’t available for comment.

Consensus projections show that on average U.S. airlines will need to hire between 2,000 and 4,500 new pilots annually through 2024, according to GAO investigators. The regional sector faces particular challenges because federal rules that went into effect last year mandate significantly higher levels of experience before newly hired co-pilots can begin flying passengers.

The new requirements have dramatically increased the time and cost for students before they become eligible to apply for airline flying jobs.

In the past, the association representing regional airlines said the industry had prepared for the changes in required flight-time and didn’t anticipate they would result in sweeping pilot shortages.

But recently, some industry officials have predicted that lack of qualified pilots will cause more flight cuts, particularly to smaller cities that already have limited air connections.

The GAO said its review of hiring and other data reflects “the extent to which employers may have difficulty attracting people at the current wage rate.” The report suggests, among other things, boosting revenues of regional carriers, a move that implies higher payments from mainline partners.

Other underlying factors for a shortage cited by the report include that “wage growth for pilots has been low compared to other occupations.” And between 2000 and 2012, the number of college and university students most likely to pursue a career as a professional pilot decreased about 23%, according to statistics cited by the GAO.

In addition to higher pay and heftier signing bonuses, the report mentions possible changes in pilot training and certification as other ways to increase the pool of qualified aviators.

The GAO document mentions an industry consortium, for example, that is urging the Federal Aviation Administration to reduce the mandatory flight-time to become a commercial pilot and rely much more on simulators and computer-based training.

“While the standards for obtaining pilot certificates have changed little” over the decades, “training technology has advanced” dramatically, according to the report.

The consortium wants the FAA to “allow more credit for training using this type of technology in lieu of actual flying,” the GAO said. That could reduce the cost and time required to get a commercial-transport license.

Such shifts have been embraced by airlines and regulators throughout Europe, Asia and many other regions, but the FAA has consistently been cool to them.

Source: http://online.wsj.com