Interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal
Airlines Are Hiring -- It's Good News, Bad News for Pilots
By SUSAN CAREY
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 27, 2004; Page B1
The airline industry is showing stirrings of new life: More than 150 carriers are recruiting pilots, the largest being Southwest Airlines and America West Airlines, according to placement firm Air Inc. Cargo lines, discount carriers and regional airlines affiliated with major carriers -- from JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways to Atlantic Coast Airlines to Mesa Airlines -- also are adding new jobs.
In March alone, U.S. aviation companies of all stripes hired 975 pilots, the highest monthly rate of job additions since before the 2001 attacks, says Kit Darby, president of Air Inc., in Atlanta. If that rate continues throughout the year, it would represent nearly as many new jobs as the industry added in 1997, the beginning of a multiyear hiring spree.
But that news is bittersweet to the nearly 10,000 pilots on furlough who have been grounded for as long as three years. Most of the furloughed pilots are from major airlines, and many of the new openings are at smaller airlines that pay only a fraction of what they earned before.
What's more, often the smaller airlines only will hire pilots if they formally resign from their previous airline. Many senior pilots work outside the industry rather than resign outright because they don't want to lose their spot on recall lists.
Some regional carriers are contractually obligated to temporarily hire a quota of furloughed pilots from their affiliate major carrier. That's how Bruce Colby, a 15-year US Airways veteran furloughed in June, became a training pilot for US Airways Group Inc.'s new regional jet division MidAtlantic Airways. One of nearly 1,900 of the carriers pilots furloughed since 2001, Capt. Colby now earns 40% of what he made before the terrorist attacks and his company's bankruptcy reorganization.
"When you're in the middle of your career and these are the cards you've been dealt, you're waiting for better days to come," says Capt. Colby, 41 years old. While he hopes that US Airways will be able to call him back to work, he says MidAtlantic "is a great opportunity. But when you look at the pay stub, you say, 'Oooh, this is different.' "
Other pilots have found new work by flying for cargo airlines, charter companies or the concerns that sell fractional ownership in business jets.
The big carriers have been slow to rehire their pilots, whom the airlines are obligated to hire back first. Reeling from huge losses, the major airlines have cut their capacity and handed over more of their flights to regional partners that have lower labor costs and fly smaller planes better suited to diminished demand. U.S. regional airlines last year accounted for 113 million passenger enplanements, according to consultants the Velocity Group, up from 85 million in 2000.
While some of the smaller outfits, including Mesaba, a subsidiary of Mesaba Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines' Comair and Chautauqua Airlines, recently raised their pilots' pay and improved benefits slightly, the regionals know veteran pilots are likely to jump ship once the better-paying major carriers start hiring again.
"We'd love it if the furloughees would come here and call it a career," says Wayne Heller, chief operating officer of Chautauqua, a unit of Republic Airways Holdings Inc. "But we know better." Under the terms of its expanded feeder agreements, Chautauqua has hired 90 pilots displaced from United Airlines and 50 more from US Airways. "They've come in here, displayed great attitude with no chips on the shoulder and done a wonderful job," Mr. Heller says. But knowing they could be recalled, Chautauqua also maintains relationships with flying academies and universities that have aviation programs.
Meanwhile, many carriers are finding the experience level of their applicant pool is far beyond their minimum requirements, in part because of the glut of furloughed pilots and industry slowdown. Southwest, which expects to add 400 pilot jobs this year, says it has résumés from "thousands" of pilots. This month the airline started holding interviews for the first time in two years, says Amy Webb, who oversees pilot hiring at the Dallas-based carrier. A first-year captain at Southwest earns about $143,000 annually.
JetBlue Airways plans to add 220 pilots this year and 440 next year and again in 2006, says Dean Melonas, director of pilot recruitment. The discount carrier has 9,000 pilot applications that meet its minimum requirements of 1,500 flight hours. "Pilots are coming into our training classes with twice our minimums or more," he says. JetBlue pilots start at $52,000 and a first-year captain takes in $120,000.
Regional SkyWest Airlines, St. George, Utah, requires a minimum of 1,000 flight hours of experience, but most of its new hires have double that amount on their log books, says Camielle Ence, manager of crew resources for SkyWest. And because SkyWest's new contract to fly for UAL Corp.'s United requires it to hire some laid-off United pilots, SkyWest has added 120 of them. "The level of experience is higher than our usual crop," says Ms. Ence. "They have 6,000 to 7,000 hours -- the senior people. The younger ones have 4,000 to 5,000 hours." Skywest starts its pilots at $19,400 a year. A 10-year captain flying a regional jet for SkyWest earns a little less than $80,000.
For less-seasoned pilots, "this is the first time in a couple of years that a lot of airlines are hiring," says Stephanie Heron-Weeber, a pilot-placement manager for Pan Am International Flight Academy in Fort Pierce, Fla. She says more than 30 Pan Am graduates have been hired by regional airlines in the first three months of the year, including 17 by Mesaba Airlines alone.
This is good news for David Noss, who graduated during the industry's trough in 2002 from Pan Am. Since then, Mr. Noss, 31 years old, had been biding his time and building up flight hours by working as an instructor at the academy.
But recently he landed his first commercial airline job, and planned to enter training this month at Mesaba, a Northwest Airlines regional affiliate. "This was the goal," he says, adding that it just took longer than he had expected when he took out a $40,000 loan in better days to attend flight school.
Ms. Heron-Weeber says many of the younger graduates still dream of flying big jetliners for a major airline. But with the industry's financial tailspin, "I think they're managing their career expectations better," the recruiter says. "They know they're not going to get there in five years."
Mr. Noss, who first learned to fly a dozen years ago, is thrilled to finally achieve his career goal even though he will take a significant pay cut to join Mesaba, at least initially. "My hope of course is to get to a major [airline]," he says. But for now, "the biggest hope is that they start to pay the regional pilots what they deserve."
Airlines Are Hiring -- It's Good News, Bad News for Pilots
By SUSAN CAREY
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 27, 2004; Page B1
The airline industry is showing stirrings of new life: More than 150 carriers are recruiting pilots, the largest being Southwest Airlines and America West Airlines, according to placement firm Air Inc. Cargo lines, discount carriers and regional airlines affiliated with major carriers -- from JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways to Atlantic Coast Airlines to Mesa Airlines -- also are adding new jobs.
In March alone, U.S. aviation companies of all stripes hired 975 pilots, the highest monthly rate of job additions since before the 2001 attacks, says Kit Darby, president of Air Inc., in Atlanta. If that rate continues throughout the year, it would represent nearly as many new jobs as the industry added in 1997, the beginning of a multiyear hiring spree.
But that news is bittersweet to the nearly 10,000 pilots on furlough who have been grounded for as long as three years. Most of the furloughed pilots are from major airlines, and many of the new openings are at smaller airlines that pay only a fraction of what they earned before.
What's more, often the smaller airlines only will hire pilots if they formally resign from their previous airline. Many senior pilots work outside the industry rather than resign outright because they don't want to lose their spot on recall lists.
Some regional carriers are contractually obligated to temporarily hire a quota of furloughed pilots from their affiliate major carrier. That's how Bruce Colby, a 15-year US Airways veteran furloughed in June, became a training pilot for US Airways Group Inc.'s new regional jet division MidAtlantic Airways. One of nearly 1,900 of the carriers pilots furloughed since 2001, Capt. Colby now earns 40% of what he made before the terrorist attacks and his company's bankruptcy reorganization.
"When you're in the middle of your career and these are the cards you've been dealt, you're waiting for better days to come," says Capt. Colby, 41 years old. While he hopes that US Airways will be able to call him back to work, he says MidAtlantic "is a great opportunity. But when you look at the pay stub, you say, 'Oooh, this is different.' "
Other pilots have found new work by flying for cargo airlines, charter companies or the concerns that sell fractional ownership in business jets.
The big carriers have been slow to rehire their pilots, whom the airlines are obligated to hire back first. Reeling from huge losses, the major airlines have cut their capacity and handed over more of their flights to regional partners that have lower labor costs and fly smaller planes better suited to diminished demand. U.S. regional airlines last year accounted for 113 million passenger enplanements, according to consultants the Velocity Group, up from 85 million in 2000.
While some of the smaller outfits, including Mesaba, a subsidiary of Mesaba Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines' Comair and Chautauqua Airlines, recently raised their pilots' pay and improved benefits slightly, the regionals know veteran pilots are likely to jump ship once the better-paying major carriers start hiring again.
"We'd love it if the furloughees would come here and call it a career," says Wayne Heller, chief operating officer of Chautauqua, a unit of Republic Airways Holdings Inc. "But we know better." Under the terms of its expanded feeder agreements, Chautauqua has hired 90 pilots displaced from United Airlines and 50 more from US Airways. "They've come in here, displayed great attitude with no chips on the shoulder and done a wonderful job," Mr. Heller says. But knowing they could be recalled, Chautauqua also maintains relationships with flying academies and universities that have aviation programs.
Meanwhile, many carriers are finding the experience level of their applicant pool is far beyond their minimum requirements, in part because of the glut of furloughed pilots and industry slowdown. Southwest, which expects to add 400 pilot jobs this year, says it has résumés from "thousands" of pilots. This month the airline started holding interviews for the first time in two years, says Amy Webb, who oversees pilot hiring at the Dallas-based carrier. A first-year captain at Southwest earns about $143,000 annually.
JetBlue Airways plans to add 220 pilots this year and 440 next year and again in 2006, says Dean Melonas, director of pilot recruitment. The discount carrier has 9,000 pilot applications that meet its minimum requirements of 1,500 flight hours. "Pilots are coming into our training classes with twice our minimums or more," he says. JetBlue pilots start at $52,000 and a first-year captain takes in $120,000.
Regional SkyWest Airlines, St. George, Utah, requires a minimum of 1,000 flight hours of experience, but most of its new hires have double that amount on their log books, says Camielle Ence, manager of crew resources for SkyWest. And because SkyWest's new contract to fly for UAL Corp.'s United requires it to hire some laid-off United pilots, SkyWest has added 120 of them. "The level of experience is higher than our usual crop," says Ms. Ence. "They have 6,000 to 7,000 hours -- the senior people. The younger ones have 4,000 to 5,000 hours." Skywest starts its pilots at $19,400 a year. A 10-year captain flying a regional jet for SkyWest earns a little less than $80,000.
For less-seasoned pilots, "this is the first time in a couple of years that a lot of airlines are hiring," says Stephanie Heron-Weeber, a pilot-placement manager for Pan Am International Flight Academy in Fort Pierce, Fla. She says more than 30 Pan Am graduates have been hired by regional airlines in the first three months of the year, including 17 by Mesaba Airlines alone.
This is good news for David Noss, who graduated during the industry's trough in 2002 from Pan Am. Since then, Mr. Noss, 31 years old, had been biding his time and building up flight hours by working as an instructor at the academy.
But recently he landed his first commercial airline job, and planned to enter training this month at Mesaba, a Northwest Airlines regional affiliate. "This was the goal," he says, adding that it just took longer than he had expected when he took out a $40,000 loan in better days to attend flight school.
Ms. Heron-Weeber says many of the younger graduates still dream of flying big jetliners for a major airline. But with the industry's financial tailspin, "I think they're managing their career expectations better," the recruiter says. "They know they're not going to get there in five years."
Mr. Noss, who first learned to fly a dozen years ago, is thrilled to finally achieve his career goal even though he will take a significant pay cut to join Mesaba, at least initially. "My hope of course is to get to a major [airline]," he says. But for now, "the biggest hope is that they start to pay the regional pilots what they deserve."
