Excargodog

So do I, whether there is a vaccine or not. COVID has caused a number of Airline pilots to retire earlier than they would have and rather a lot of wOutdoor-be airline pilots who might have gone into training to put the brakes on. It has also caused and/or will soon cause disruption in the career progression at the regionals. A number of regionals have disappeared and more are likely to follow while many of the junior people at the regionals have either been furloughed or are simply not flying the hours they need for timely career progression. At the same time the most senior people at regionals - while they are continuing to fly - are getting older and many are reaching the point where being a career regional lifer will be a better QOL than going to a major and facing years of reserve fir a major right seat at not much more pay. Those senior regional guys just going career regional blocks career progression - at least to some degree - for everyone behind them.

of course, none of that matters until demand returns, but the pilot pipeline has lag time and it simply can’t be turned on immediately. So yeah, in the end COVID results in a worsening of the pilot shortage.