Originally Posted by
kansas
I won't believe there's a pilot shortage until it trickles upward to the majors.
The majors have outsourced the majority of any growth in narrow body flying. NorthWest is shrinking their DC-9 and Airbis fleet in favor of CRJ's at Compass, Pinnacle and Mesaba.
Those major jobs are nearly twice as rare as they once were. Between the loss of 3 seat jets and RJ's Delta's list is 6,900 down from almost twice that number. With age 65 looming (which shut the door at FedEx even before it happened) there is not going to be a "shortage" for the good jobs any time soon. Now is probably as good as it gets.
Pilots need to focus on improving the lot of the professionals at the non-brand regional carriers who are the defacto narrow body majors these days.