It seems that almost every turn of the decade, the Airline Industry is in crisis. The following timeline is partially excerpted from a recent update from Council 173.

1970’s- Oil Crisis
1980’s- Airline De-regulation
1990’s- Gulf War and Recession
2000’s- 9/11 Terror Attacks, SARS, Bankruptcies
2010’s- Great Recession
2020’s- Covid-19

Each decade and each crisis presented its own set of trials and tribulations.

This crisis will not be the last airline industry crisis. The pattern of crisis shows another one will follow in the 2030’s, 2040’s and 2050’s, and each crisis will be unprecedented if history continues to predict the future. Pilots will be told in the intervening years that the industry has changed and management is different, but it will be the same cyclical nature of the industry. It is crucial that we look at the career ahead to be certain that harm is not done in the long run while trying to protect the near term. Last week’s announcement from the company that they were accelerating the timeline of previously announced furloughs, and their corresponding errors made in sending two furlough notices with different dates to several pilots is unprecedented. Once this crisis has passed, you will each draw your own conclusions of whether this management is different as each prior pilot group has.