Originally Posted by
Yoda2
I wish the media and flight schools would finally stop proffering this pilot shortage BS. There might be a pilot shortage but there is no shortage of pilots, just those not willing to work for the wages offered. Also, until the regionals got established the ATP was the standard deal. The barrier now is, of course, getting that flight time due to the economy/lack of students and parents and banks not loaning the money for flight training as they once did. Even with all that there is still no shortage of pilots. Raise the pay! There are plenty of potential pilots with the multi time and ATP's or at least ATP Mins.
There's no shortage yet because there has not yet been substantial attrition anywhere. The retirement numbers are gigantic.
I'm also not a fan of the words "Shortage" and "Pilot" being used in the same sentence but the fact remains that the industry is looking at about 1000+ retirements a year for the indefinite future.
The majors haven't really started the uptick on pilot hiring but when the retirements kick in in larger numbers they'll have to do so. That will hit the regionals very hard.