U.S. Airlines Grapple With Having No Easy Fixes for Pilot Shortages
Photo Caption: United hopes to increase the supply of pilots with its new United Aviate Academy. United Airlines
Skift Take
Accepting that there is a pilot shortage in the U.S. is only the first step to fixing the problem. The next is producing more pilots but that, even with big names like Alaska and United working on it, will take several years.
U.S. airline executives, who frequently never agree on anything, concur on at least one thing: that the industry faces a pilot shortage. The obvious next step is what to do about it but that is already too late as carriers prune schedules, in part, to mitigate its effects this summer.
“What can you do about it?” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said of the pilot shortage at a J.P. Morgan investor conference Tuesday. “Well, obviously, focusing on automation and technology … but also creating career paths.”
JetBlue benefits from its gateway program, which offers interested applicants various paths from university programs to flight schools to becoming a pilot at the airline. Launched in 2016, Hayes said the four-year program has recently begun producing “significant numbers” of new pilots for the carrier.
But in his comment Hayes highlighted the issue airlines face addressing the pilot shortage today: JetBlue’s program takes four years to produce
