Professionalism and Regional Airlines

One of the hot topics that is really discussed nowadays within the aviation industry, is the issue regarding the pilot shortage. Issue that in my opinion exists and is already starting to manifest itself within some airlines around the world. The airlines that are having the greatest impact from this phenomenon are those so-called the regional airlines. The regional airlines were created by the major airlines because they wanted to lower their personal operating costs. All over the world, several airlines are having difficulty flying all their fleet because there is a lack of pilots, which forces them to reduce air service and to ground airplanes. For example, Alaska Airlines regional arm, Horizon Air, in the summer months (period in which it has the highest profits), had to cancel almost 6% of its total scheduled flights, because of their lack of pilots (Ostrower, 2017). Another example may be the case of Republic Airways, which a determining factor for its filing for bankruptcy protection, in 2016, was partly due to the lack of flight crews (Ostrower, 2017).

The lack of pilots issues its growing at a fast peace. Boeing forecasts show, that in the next twenty years it will be necessary to train at least 637 thousand new pilots ready to be put to the flight controls of commercial airliners (“Pilot Outlook: 2017-2036”, n.d.). These numbers translate into the formation of around 87 new pilots a day, which is 1 every 15 minutes. Someone may wonder, why the number of new pilots needed in those coming years is so high. The combination and integration of various factors that are occurring within the aviation industry are the main cause of this high number. I have identified 4 factors that interacting with each other have created and are crating this pilot shortage. The first is the expansion plans of the airlines. In fact, Boeing expects that between 2017 and 2036, around 41,000 new aircraft will be purchased by the various airlines (Ostrower, 2017). This increase of new aircraft in the various airlines fleets will make the demand for pilots increase. Another factor that I have identified, influencing this problem, is the high rate of pilot exiting the job world. It is expected that starting from 2021 a greater number of pilots will arrive at the age of 65, maximum age allowed to be as an airline pilot, which will result in an exponential increase of pilot who would retire (Ostrower, 2017). The data shows that in the next 10 years, about 42% of the pilots in the US biggest carriers will cross the 65-year-old threshold, which translates into 22,000 pilots who will leave the job force (Ostrower, 2017). We can already see how the number of pilots who retired exceeds the workforce of the pilots who are in the regional airlines (around 19,000) (Ostrower, 2017). Another factor that affects, in a heavy way, this phenomenon of pilot shortage is the regulation regarding the 1,500 of total flight time in order to gain the ATP, which in my opinion is a big barrier. The 1,500 hours rule was implemented after the tragic accident of the Colgan Air flight. One of the factors at which it was pointed the finger towards at, as a leading factor of the accident was the "few" hours of experience that both the captain and the first officer had. In reality, if we look more closely, we can see how both the captain and the first office had a lot more hours than the 1,500 requests today for the ATP. Said this in my opinion the rule of 1,500 total flight hours does not make much sense. This regulation has a negative factor especially on regional air carriers which have a smaller hiring pool.

A pay increase in my opinion would decrease the pilot shortage. I believe this because going through the pilot training it is extremely expensive and most of the people are required to take loans to be able to go through it. As of right now the pay that regional carriers offer, especially in the first year is still really low and often people are extremely stressed out because they need to pay back the loans that they had to gain in order to train, plus they need to be able to live with the money left. This stressful situation often prevents people to embark on the journey to become airline pilots. The pay for the first year as an officer at Colgan Air was about 21$ an hours while after the accident nowadays the average pay is about 69$ per hour for regional first officers (“Pilot Salaries in 2017: Which Airline Will Have the Highest Pay?”, 2017). We can clearly see how the pay increased but in my opinion, it is still not enough.

               A possible solution to the pilot shortages problem that the aviation field is currently facing, would be to eliminate the 1500 rule. There is no evidence of experiments that supports that having 1500 hours in the flight log means that someone is a better pilot. Another possible solution would be to implement partnership between flight schools and air carriers. Those partnership in my opinion would allow the air carriers, especially the regionals, to have their own personal hiring pool in specific flight schools and make sure that the training that the pilots are receiving meet their standards.

When I think about the concept of professionalism I think about not just carrying out a job at the minimum level required but instead having the desire to excel in what you are doing and having a good work ethic while performing your job. While watching the documentary flying cheap I noticed that in some occasion there was a lack of professionalism within the working environment of Colgan Airline. The one that shocked me the most was when they stated that Colgan was more looking towards the completion of the flights rather than towards the safety aspects. In the aviation world where safety is the number one key factor this statement can be shocking. But Colgan had this mentality because they were paid based on the number of flights that they were completing, which moved safety to a second place. Another episode that in my opinion lacked professionalism was when the Captain of a Colgan flight falsified the load manifest to make the flight fit in the weight limits.  

In my opinion, the first year pay of pilots it is a contributing factor towards the lack of professionalism. For example, in the video it says that pilots were payed only when the doors of the aircraft were closed and when the engine were running. Since only the completion of a flight meant to be paid, the pilots would take an extra step away from the safety factor. Due to the lower pay that first year regional pilots get, sometimes they have to face awful “working shifts” ,also if they are not technichally paid until they aircraft engines are running, to get a decent paycheck.

When I will be hired as pilot I will try to make sure to keep a high level of professionalism in many ways. The most important one is to try to carry my job out in the best possible way, putting all my knowledge and my energy into what I am doing. Another way that I will try to keep a high level of professionalism is to not fall in the temptation of shortcuts to achieve what I want.

References:

Pilot Salaries in 2017: Which Airline Will Have the Highest Pay? (2017, November 1). Retrieved

from https://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/articles/job-search-articles/pilot-salaries-in-2017

which-airline-will-have-the-highest-pay.html

Pilot Outlook: 2017-2036. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.boeing.com/commercial/market/pilot-

technician-outlook/2017-pilot-outlook/

Ostrower, J. (2017, July 31). The U.S. will face a staggering shortage of pilots. Retrieved from

http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/27/news/companies/pilot-shortage-figures/index.html