Originally Posted by
Wheel Landing
Mark My Words:
I've got a theory about all this non-hiring just before the shortage. There WILL be a massive shortage due to all the factors we are familiar with. The major airlines will have purposely held off hiring in anticipation of this. Then there WILL be a major disruption to the "flow of commerce" and then they will go to congress "Needing relief" from regulatory hurdles. Then hold on to your hat that they want us to wear to look professional. Everything will be on the table. They will be asking for congressional relief from scope clauses, the FO ATP rule, any new rest requirements that might or might not be in place at that point, and (here is the big one) CABOTAGE! That's right. They will be going after the entire U.S. Airline industry in favor of using other country's airlines to do the flying. They will claim that there was no way they could have predicted these pilot shortages and could not possibly absorb the costs of all this training with out going bankrupt. All along, they will have purposly painted themselves into a corner while maintaining that they were all just too short sighted, stupid and dumb to realise this was coming.
Dumb? ...Dumb like a Fox!
Thoughts?
+1. "One World"
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Only one problem with that...
Other countries airlines are already desperate for qualified pilots, to the point that they have to offer somewhat better than US domestic airlines to attract western talent. No sign of that changing anytime soon.
I just don't think the airlines are thinking that far ahead...they never have before (in recent memory) so why start now?
British Airways has started their add campaign to hire pilots via ab-initio or new-hire. I saw one of their adds in back of an Airliner magazine. It basically says that they will need 800 pilots very soon and that there will be big retirements at BA (age 55, full retirement and medical). Ryan Air, Emirates etc, are starting this pipeline to get warm blood in their seats before the crunch.
If we are not proactive/defensive, the US Airlines will have much similar fate as compared to the US cruise/shipping industry.
TEN